Rekindling
by Mooncat99
Summary: A slow way back to friendship – or even something more? AU, LoVe, Logan’s POV.
1. Prologue

Title: Rekindling

Author: Mooncat

Rating: M

Summary: A slow way back to friendship – or even something more? AU, LoVe, Logan's POV.

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Veronica Mars, just burrowing them.

Copyright: Sarah Diaz 2006

Author's Note: Okay, this is my first Mars story and I honestly have no idea where this is going. I just go with the flow. It's slightly AU, starting somewhere during season one, a different way how Logan and Veronica got past being enemies – and to something new between them.

_**Rekindling**_

**__**

**_Prologue_**

"Yo Echolls!"

At the angry voice, Logan looked up, his eyebrows shooting skywards when he saw the black flag pole guy looming over him.

"I'm sorry, do you mean me?" Logan asked with a smirk. "You know, I'm not sure, seeing as you and I hardly breathe the same air, it kind of surprises me when you all of a sudden see it fit for you to come here to the wrong side and address me."

The dark expression on the guy's face got even darker, if that was possible, and his eyebrows drew together. "Cut the crap, asshole, what did you do this time?" he demanded to know in a tight voice.

Logan's eyebrows shot higher. "Oh, I don't know. I do a lot of things. Right now I'm breathing and asking myself why exactly you stand in my sun. So husch, husch, why don't you go back to the loser table you're usually sitting on, now," he said, dismissing the guy with a wave of his hand, and returned his attention to the bunch of guys surrounding him.

Apparently though, the guy didn't get the clue as he, instead of leaving already, stemmed his hands on the table and leaned down, right into Logan's face. "If you think you can just ignore me, then think again. I know that most people around here buckle in front of you and stumble over their feet in order to please the son of one of Hollywood's most famous dream couple, but guess what, I'm not one of them. I'm not afraid of you. I watched for a while now how you treated my friend like shit, and I said nothing 'cause she wouldn't let me, but you've gone too far now. I don't know what cruel thing you did to her this time but if it was bad enough to hurt her like she does right now then I guess you really had to have outdone yourself this time," he hissed and leaned even closer. "And I sure as hell am done just watching. Leave her alone or by God, I'll make you pay for every harsh word you said to her, every vicious thing you did to her, hell, for every nasty glance you sent her way! Was that clear enough for you or do I need to send it to you in script form?"

Logan's eyes chilled as he felt the rage always bottled up inside him raise its ugly head. Who the hell did that guy think he was, coming off talking to him like that! But for now he flipped a tight lid onto the rage and gave the guy with an obvious death wish a deriding smile. "As you're seen following Mars around like a lost puppy ever since you started here I guess we're talking about the ever charming Ms Veronica Mars, aren't we?" he asked in a pleasant voice, ignoring the way he felt his best friend tensing beside him.

"Don't you fucking play games now, Echolls, you know exactly that this is about Veronica!" the guy hissed, his anger quickly turning into rage.

Logan gave a dramatic sigh. "Actually no, I have no idea, but then it shouldn't surprise me, seeing as Ms Mars loves to blame the strangest things on me. What's it this time?" he asked with slight interest, but then shrugged. "Oh well, it doesn't really matter. It's widely known after all how delusional the lovely Ms Mars is, our own little nutcase," he said with false affection. Then though, his eyes harden. "I wouldn't believe all the crap she's feeding you, Fennel, and even less I'd trust her, 'cause you know, she has a tendency to stab her so called friends right into their back," he added, bitterly.

Fennel shook his head in disgust. "No wonder, with friends like you. Turned their backs on her the second she dares to waver from their path. Yeah, I'd be cuddling such friends to my heart as well."

The lid on his rage blew off and Logan shot to his feet, his hand grabbing Fennel's collar and yanking him towards him. "You better shut the fuck up than talking about things you know _nothing_ about!" he threatened furiously.

"As soon as you leave my BFF alone, I'm more than happy to stay clear of you, Echolls," Fennel said relatively calmly, his dark eyes boring into Logan's, unwavering.

"I do as I please, _boy_, and what's between me and Veronica Mars doesn't concern you shit," Logan lowly said and, restraining the urge to pummel Fennel's face to a bloody gulp, shoved the guy away, hard. "And _you_ better stay out of _my_ way or you'll learn what real high school hell feels like."

Fennel, who had stumbled, straightened. "Hurt her again, Echolls, and we'll see whose life turns to one big hellhole," he simply said and turned to head away.

His hands flexing and unflexing, Logan fought the desire to go after the guy and beat the shit out of him.

"Dude, what the hell was his problem?" Dick asked, coming to stand beside him with big eyes.

Logan took a deep breath and shrugged, turning to Dick and the rest of his friends with a mocking grin. "You know as much as me. Mars probably told him some horror tales again, like she usual does," he answered lightly.

"Yeah, Dude, probably. That bitch sure likes to cause trouble," Luke agreed.

"Hear, hear," Logan agreed and was about to sit down again when his best friend shook his head and angrily got up and left without a word. But then the glare Duncan Kane sent him spoke volumes. Frowning, Logan followed him, quickly catching up to him. "And now what's _your_ problem, huh DK?"

Duncan ignored him and just walked on. Getting fed up with the attitude, Logan caught Duncan's arm and forced him to turn and face him. "I asked you something, Duncan," he insisted impatiently.

Duncan looked away, before his eyes turned back to him, still shining in anger. "When will you finally stop this which hunt you got going against Veronica? Okay, I get you're angry with her. I'm too. But it's going too far Logan," he said tensely, shaking his head. "Way too far. What did you do to her this time anyway?" he wanted to know with a frown.

Frustrated, Logan threw up his arms. "I didn't do anything! I haven't said a word to Veronica in days! I have no idea why Fennel went over the edge like that and I really don't care. Whatever it was he thinks I did or said to her, she deserved it."

"Logan, stop finally!" Duncan demanded exasperated. "When on Earth will you stop harassing Veronica?"

"Like never, sounds pretty good to me," Logan answered heatedly, but truthfully.

"For heaven's sake, why can't you give it a rest? If anyone _I _should be angry with her, after all it's _my_ dad they suspected of killing his own daughter, _my_ family Keith went after," Duncan gave back equally heated. "He did what he thought was right, did his job, I get that, even though I'll never understand why he went down that road. He did though, and he paid for it. You know Veronica. You honestly think she wouldn't stand with her father when everyone, including Lianne, turned their backs on him?"

"She betrayed us!" Logan exclaimed. "She should have never believed even for a second what crap her dad was imagining! And she should have stopped him! Right before he got obsessed with Jake killing Lilly! She could have stopped him but she didn't. She could have opted to stay true to her friends, to Lilly, but no, of course not, she rather turned her back on us!"

Duncan looked at him sadly and shook his head. "Man, Logan, have you even _known_ Veronica at all? She loves Keith. He's her world, her hero, whish isn't very surprising considering that he was the sheriff of Neptune since like forever. You've seen those two together. It's not like it is between you and your dad or even between me and mine. They're truly close. Of course she stood by him. It was wrong, yeah, but fuck, Logan, she doesn't deserve what you've been putting her through this past year."

Logan narrowed his eyes. "I haven't heard you complaining before, Duncan. What's the matter? You falling for her again?"

"You know what? Yeah, I stood by and watched you and the others put her through hell, because yeah, I was angry," Duncan confessed. "But one day you've got to move on and get past this blind rage you seem to be in constantly lately, especially when she's concerned."

"That's where you're wrong: I don't have to do anything. And I'll _never_ forgive her for betraying us!" Logan hissed. "Just because you have the hots for her again doesn't mean that I can just forget what she did."

"Grow up Logan and call me once you're past your jackass phase," Duncan simply said tightlipped and left Logan standing there, seething.

His hands balled to fists and he glared at the retreating back of his best friend.

God damn that fucking Veronica Mars. Even with her gone out of their circle she still caused nothing but trouble. And what fucking lies had she come up with now to make him the center of her oh so pitiful life? Hadn't it been enough that she had betrayed her friends, that her father had been set on destroying the Kanes even more than Lilly's death had already ripped them apart? Had she set her mind on destroying even his and Duncan's friendship now? But he wouldn't let her. He wouldn't let her take away that last thing that remained of the good old golden days when the world had maybe not been perfect but still a hell of a lot better than it was now. When his girlfriend had still been alive and his best friend hadn't turned to a fucking walking droid.

When he still had been able to believe in the only stable thing in his life, the shy, innocent and sweet Veronica Mars who had always been the calm, steady rock in their group, always there for her friends, always ready to listen to them, always watching out for them, always ready to just make the worst day a bit better with that understanding, warm smile of hers, so full of compassion and affection. When he had been convinced that no matter what, he could always count on Veronica.

Yeah right. Apparently he had been wrong. There was no rely on Veronica Mars and that revelation had been almost more devastating than the loss of his girlfriend.

No.

It had been worse. He had believed he could always count on one Veronica Mars, best friend of his girlfriend, girlfriend of his best friend, _his_ friend since they had been twelve. But he had been wrong. In the moment he would have needed her most, she had turned her back to him and Duncan and Lilly and everyone else, making the loss they all had suffered with Lilly's death even worse, as if they hadn't just lost Lilly, but Veronica as well.

And Duncan could say what he wanted. _That_ Logan could never forgive Veronica Mars.

* * *

TBC! 


	2. 1 Soft Waves Of Change

**Chapter 1: Soft Waves Of Change**

Logan was on his way to class, still seething about the events in the lunch break, when he spotted the 'Out of order' sign on one of the girl's bathrooms. And the sign alone made his blood boil again. What nerve had she to wander around Neptune High as if this was her school? It wasn't her school, it was _his_ school. She probably thought it was cute to simply hang out that stupid sign and do as if that was her personal P.I. office.

Oh, he knew that was where most of the people that were so deluded to go ask for her help went in order to hire Neptune High's very own Nancy Drew. He found it ridiculous but he had to admit that it indeed had some advantages there. Like having something like privacy.

And though he had no qualms whatsoever about going after her in the presence of the whole world, for their next confrontation with the lies telling, snooping betrayer Veronica Mars, he wanted privacy. They were going to have it out and set a few things straight, like her stopping to trying to wriggle her tiny but between him and Duncan, and he was fairly certain that there may be a few things said he didn't particularly wanted the whole school to hear.

They did know each other for a long time now, after all, and during those times Veronica had been privy to a lot of Logan's life the world didn't really know about him. Didn't need to know.

Grinding his teeth, Logan marched over to the bathroom and entered it swiftly, ready to ruthlessly kick out anyone but one Veronica Mars. To his slight surprise though, there was no one else present than the tiny blond that had been his friend once.

Okay, even better. He slammed the door shut and approached Veronica, who was currently cowering on the floor of the bathroom.

His steps faltered as he registered something he hadn't registered so far in his rage.

She was crying.

No, scratch that. She was sobbing. Uncontrollably and violently, so her entire body shook with her sobs.

He stopped altogether, starring at her in something that almost bordered to panic.

Shit.

He never had liked to see her cry. It had been the hardest part in making her life a living hell, hurting her to the point that her eyes watered. Not that it had been especially hard in the first few weeks. Two, three mean comments and already her eyes would swim in tears. Then though she had cut her long, silky hair and turned to bitch version Veronica Mars who cared a shit about anyone's opinion or comments and instead of tears there had been sharp-tongued and witty retorts that could be as biting and hurting as Logan's best remarks. In a way, he had been relieved to not being forced anymore to make her cry. On the other way, he had been pissed that she all of a sudden could ignore him like that.

But seeing her crying was one thing. This here was something else, a painful, heart wrenching sobbing that spoke of deep grief or pain or perhaps both. And there had only been one time he had witnessed her sobbing like that.

The night of Lilly's death.

When she had called him to tell him that Lilly had been murdered, knowing that he was out of town, and not wanting him to hear it in the radio or learning it from stupid reporters who stuck a microphone into his face to ask how and when he had learned of his late girlfriend's death and how he was feeling about that. She had been sobbing like that when she had broken the terrible news to him.

_(Flashback)_

"_Well, well, well, Ronnie… can't say I expected your call," he answers his phone, smirking, already more than just a bit inebriated from the masses of alcohol he has downed since he had realized that things between him and Lilly are really over now. "Not that I'm complaining. Or that surprised. Always knew you wanted me Veronica Mars," he leers through the phone, not giving a damn that he's flirting with his ex-girlfriend's best friend and the ex-girlfriend of his best friend. After all it isn't as if it's the first time._

"_Logan," her voice interrupts him with a heart-wrenching sob that cuts right through the blur in his head as he knows immediately that something is terribly wrong for Veronica to sound like that._

_He sits up and frowns. "Veronica? What's wrong? What happened? Are you hurt?" he fires of questions, cold dread twisting up his stomach. _

"_Logan… Oh God… Logan…" she stumbles out, her sobbing growing heavier._

"_Ronnie, please, tell me what's wrong," Logan pleads, jumping up, ready to rush to wherever she is right now and make sure she's all right._

"_It's Lilly, Logan," she finally manages to say and Logan stops in confusion, the dread in his stomach turning to ice cold fear upon hearing that tone in her voice he never has heard before but instinctively recognizes anyway as something very bad. _

"_What?" he asks, hoping that that terrible feeling he has isn't right._

"_She's… dead… Logan…" Veronica though tells him in strangled sobs. "Someone… Someone has mu… mur… murdered her…" she continues and he can feel the pain and shock in every tremble of her shaky voice._

_He shakes his head. _

_No._

_No. _

_That can't be true. _

_Lillie can't be…_

_No, it just can't be possible._

_His Lilly, his wonderful, bright, shiny Lilly, so full of life. It just can't be that she's… is… _

_NOOOOOOOOOOO!_

_Somewhere far, far away he hears Veronica calling his name rather frantically._

"_No," he whispers tonelessly into the phone, shaking his head._

_It isn't true. It can't be true. Not that. Not Lilly. No, no, no…_

"_Logan… I… I saw… I saw her… she's… gone, Logan," Veronica though says, still crying but in a slightly more firm voice. "She's really… really gone."_

_NO! It simply couldn't be! He had only seen her a few hours ago when she was washing a car together with Veronica. Sure, Lilly had no idea that he had cut his trip short to come back and see her, talk with her – only to realize that they were really over this time right at his first glimpse of her. No, no, no! This isn't true!_

"_Dad… got called out… to the… sc… scene… and I…" Veronica's voice trails off and she sniffs. "Oh God Logan, she looked so… broken," it breaks out of her._

_And this time he's not able to deny the terrible truth any longer. That his beautiful Lilly is really gone. Really dead. That someone has brutally taken her from him, from life. Veronica's palpable pain is just too great to ignore it anymore, to deny it any further and his world crashes down. His knees give away and he falls into the sand of the beach he had gone to after his revelation about his relationship with Lilly. _

_A sob wrenches out of his throat that soon turns to a scream full of pain and blind fury. Once the scream is out of him he falls the rest of the way down into the sand where he curls himself into a tight fetal position, sobs now racking his body as they probably rack Veronica's miles away from this beach. He can still hear them over the phone with an occasional croaked whisper of his name. _

_Their shared grief, even if it's only over the phone, is the only consolation he receives that night. But it's enough to keep him from simply going into the water to never return from it again._

_(End Flashback)_

When Logan had woken up the next day, still lying on the beach in that fetal position, his phone had died down, not too surprisingly. And he was glad about it. It would spare him the calls of his family and other friends, full of pity and sympathy, telling lies about knowing how he must feel now. They knew crap. They hadn't known Lilly like he had, hadn't loved her like he had. The only ones that truly could understand were Duncan and Veronica as they were the only ones who had known and loved Lilly like he had. Each in their different way of course, but that didn't matter right now.

And those two were the only ones he wanted to see. So that was what he had done upon finally returning to Neptune. He hadn't gone home. He had doubted that the Kanes would already let him through to Duncan. And if he wanted to be honest, he needed to see Veronica more than he needed to see his best friend who was probably more devastated than either of them. After all, Lilly had been his sister. Once he faced his girlfriend's brother he would need to be strong for him, Duncan probably needing him more right now than vice versa. So he went to Veronica first to share his grief, their grief, to gather strength before he even dreamed about facing Duncan and the Kanes.

Upon seeing the distraught, miserable boy at her door, Leanne Mars had simply stood back, allowing Logan entrance without one word. He had no words for her either but had just dashed upstairs to Veronica's room where they had grieved in privacy for the rest of the day, in each other's arms or at least presence, until Keith had come back and had driven Logan home in his police cruiser so he could get through the masses of reporters already waiting in front of the Echolls' mansion.

Yeah, that had been the last and only time he had seen Veronica Mars sobbing like that and despite everything that had happened since then, his first instinct was still to rush over to her, take her into his arms and find out what pained her so much.

But he didn't. One look at her now short hair and he remembered her betrayal that let to the rift between them, remembered that this girl wasn't the Veronica Mars anymore that had once been one of his most trusted friends.

Again his hands balled to fists and he let out a laugh that sounded false and strained even to his ears. "Tz, tz, tz, Veronica, what's this? The newest act of the biggest drama queen at Neptune High? Really Veronica, I'm disappointed in you. This is so cliché."

Veronica stiffened and the sobs subsided somewhat and he could actually see how she tried to visibly pull herself together. Her body still shook though.

And she ignored him. She didn't look up at him, she had no witty comeback to offer him, nothing. And somehow, this irked him the most.

"What, Veronica? Nothing to say? No super high intelligent snarl of a comment, no over-imaginative evil scheme you want to accuse me of?" he said in his most deriding voice, eager to have her explode on him.

He knew how to deal with a furious Veronica Mars.

But instead of doing him the favor of throwing herself into a fit of rage, she tightened her arms around her knees, curling into an even tighter ball than she had already been in. "Not now, Logan," came her muffled voice, hoarse with tears.

Logan bit his lips, unsure what to do. It so wasn't fun to throw nasty things at the tiny blonde when she had no comebacks for him. Not to mention that each second he saw her like this, his desire to get to know what exactly had happened to render her to this sobbing mess grew.

Could it be that something had happened to Leanne? No, likely. Otherwise Keith would have come to tell her and as sure as hell wouldn't have let her alone. And if something would have happened to Keith she probably wouldn't be here either. She'd have run away, not to mention that then there would have been police around. But what else could bring her to sob like that?

It didn't matter.

Veronica Mars was no concern to him anymore.

He had come here to argument with her, something she clearly wasn't up to right now. So he should just leave, postponing the argument for another time.

Right.

"Do me a favor, Veronica, when you're already at it, why don't you let the place flood, huh? 'Cause I could use a couple of free days," he said flippantly and turned to leave.

"Just go the fuck away, Echolls," she mumbled in a low, defeated voice.

It stopped him dead in his tracks and he turned back to her, narrowing his eyes. Not once had she called him by his last name in all the time since their little personal war had broken out. Actually, he hadn't heard 'Echolls' pass her lips since before Lilly died. Veronica seldom referred to anyone by his last name, least alone her friends. Only when she was really and truly angry, as well something that very, very rarely was the case. And boy, she had been angry the last time she had referred to him as Echolls. But then, so had been he.

_(Flashback)_

"_What the hell were you thinking Veronica!" Logan screams into her face._

"_What did you think I'd do? Not tell my best friend that her boyfriend's cheating on her?" Veronica gives back as heatedly. _

"_I wasn't cheating on Lilly!" Logan protests, his arm flying away to point backwards. _

"_Oh yeah? So I probably was just imagining you kissing Yolanda, huh?" Veronica asks sarcastically._

"_For heaven's sake, I know that this concept is probably foreign to you, but first, I was drunk…" Logan starts to point out through gritted teeth._

"_And that excuses everything of course," Veronica interrupts him icily._

_Logan ignores it. "Lilly set me up and most importantly: the bitch kissed me, not the other way around. If you'd had bothered to stay you'd have seen how I pushed her away. But you didn't, huh? You just assumed the worst and had nothing better to do than to run to Lilly and feed her false lies and now she has broken up with me, without giving me the slightest chance to explain myself first. God, Veronica, and I thought we were friends!"_

"_We are! You think I enjoyed having to tell my best friend that my other friend had been kissing another girl than his girlfriend?" Veronica flares up, her eyes shining in a mixture of hurt and anger._

"_You could have first talked to me! Give me a chance to explain. I think that would have been the least you owed me as my supposedly friend!" Logan hisses._

_She shakes her head. "Yeah? God, Logan, listen to you! Lilly's my best friend! You can't tell me that you wouldn't have done the same thing if you had caught me kissing another guy than Duncan. You'd have gone straight to Duncan as well, without bothering to first give me a chance to explain anything! So please don't come off all angry against me now just for following the BFF rules! _I_ didn't kiss someone I wasn't supposed to while the person I claim to love is home sick!"_

_Logan's eyes narrow as the anger in him he has been feeling ever since Lilly made a scene on him out of the blue and had broken up with him, welled up in hot, angry waves. "As if that's ever going to happen! Perfect, saint Veronica Mars would never do such a thing, I know that only too well, God, we often enough had to listen to the parental front rubbing it under our nose how perfectly correct and well mannered Veronica is. What do you know about passion, huh? About lust? About doing stupid things, being drunk or not? About having fun, real fun? Nothing, you know nothing! Yet here you are, judging my life as if you have any right to do so! Well, I've got some news for you, Mars, you don't! You're not my mom nor are you my girlfriend, thank God! And for what I'm concerned we're through being friends as well. So do me the favor and stay out of my business in the future, especially my relationship with Lilly!"_

_Veronica's eyes widen and when he can see the first shimmer of tears welling up in her big green eyes, he feels guilt starting to slowly sneak into his fury._

"_Go to hell, Echolls!" she whispers in a harsh and oh so hurt voice before she turns on her heels and runs back into her house, the door slamming behind her._

_For a moment he stares after her, the guilt inside him growing stronger. He knows he has hurt her… but hell, she really had no business to go rat him out to Lilly like that, without at least giving him a heads up! _

_Clinging to that thought, he pushes the guilt at his harsh words to her away and quickly storms off as well._

_(End Flashback)_

It had taken a couple of days for him to calm down enough and see that she had been right. In her place, he would have gone to Duncan first as well. He was his best friend after all. So he had gone to Veronica to apologize, surprised that she simply waved it away and herself apologized for jumping to conclusions and not giving him a chance to explain himself. Of course it had helped that he also had acknowledged that he and Lilly had been heading to an off-again of their relationship anyway, even without that stupid kiss with Yolanda. Truth was he would never have kissed Yolanda in the first place if Lilly hadn't been already such a bitch to him around that time and had opted to stay away from the party just to give him a lesson or something.

Besides, he and Lilly often had big fights and broke things off to soon get back together again. It was the way they worked.

Only this time, before they had a chance to get back together, she had been killed.

And everything fucked up.

Most of all though his and Veronica's friendship.

Sometimes he had wondered why Veronica had never fallen back to call him Echolls. Heaven knew that he had put her through hell this past year, not that she hadn't deserved it. He had said way more mean things to her than back then. Yet, not once had she called him Echolls. Until now.

And fuck, it hurt. Hurt a lot. More than it should be. Because she may not be the same Veronica Mars as she had been but deep down he knew that for her to call him Echolls meant that this time, he really had gone too far. Had really and truly hurt her, badly, enough for her to finally react with the hate he had thought he had wanted to evoke in her.

Now though he wasn't so sure about that anymore, as guilt and an incredible sadness engulfed him, not quite putting out the fire of his rage – but sure diminishing it.

His eyes rested on her, taking in that the trembles in her body had died down by now as well. She was still curled up tightly though and there may be no sobs and shaking anymore, but he could still feel her pain, sadness. And all of a sudden, he found himself in an inner war, where the angry side of him screamed to him to get the hell out of there while a more compassionate side of him he had thought had died with Lilly and the betrayal of Veronica screamed to him to go to her and forget what had happened in the past year, if just for this small moment in time.

Where the hell was Fennel? He was supposed to be Veronica's newest BFF after all, he should be here right now and take care of his hurting friend, keeping people away from seeing her like that. Instead of going after Logan like he had he should rather have been here and consoling Veronica. Ha, the annoying guy sure had talked big… but it was obvious that he seriously lacked in action.

Forcing Logan to stand here, not knowing to which instinct he should give in.

For a moment he closed his eyes, opening them again when he heard a small sound coming from the heap on the floor. This time he moved before his brain kicked in and slowly walked over to her, crouching down in front of her. Eve more slowly, he reached out with his arm to touch her lightly on her arm. "What happened, Ronnie?" he asked softly, his voice holding no venom for the first time in what seemed like forever to him while talking to Veronica Mars.

Whatever he had halfway counted on, expected, it hadn't been the reaction Veronica showed in the end. There was a shudder going through her body and abruptly she scrambled on her feet, shying away from his touch.

"_Don't_ touch me!" she hissed, her eyes glaring at him.

Somewhat shocked, Logan stared at her with a frown, still from the crouched position on the floor he had been in. He was hurt by the way she had shied away from him. Yeah, he had been nasty to her, even going so far as blowing out her headlights with a crowbar. But surely she had to know that no matter how angry, and yeah, hurt he was, he'd never, _ever_ would hurt her physically. Right now though, he was more worried over exactly that reaction than anything. This wasn't normal for Veronica Mars – neither version of her.

"Ronnie?" he whispered.

Her eyes widened as she stared at him, her face paling. "Logan…" she murmured, as just growing aware that he was still here, right in front of her. "I… I'm sorry… I didn't…" she shook her head as if to shake away a fog in her head.

Slowly, Logan rose to his feet, never taking his eyes away from her. "What's going on here, Ronnie?" he wanted, no, demanded to know in a tight voice.

For a few moments longer she simply stared at him but then her eyes cleared – and grew aware of what had just happened, judging by the way blood rushed into her cheeks and her eyes darted away from him to look at anything but him. He watched as she visibly pulled herself together, returned to the Veronica Mars she had been this past year. Her shoulders squared, her back straightened and she raised her head to hold it up high.

"Nothing," she said swiftly and turned around, turning on the water.

Yeah sure, that was why she had sobbed and quivered only moments ago. His eyes narrowed on her back, not saying anything, but his insistence to get an answer was pretty clear anyway.

Her eyes met his via the mirror after she splashed her face. "In case you haven't noticed, this is a girl's bathroom. The boy's one's across the floor."

Logan's eyes narrowed some more. "Veronica…" he warned lowly.

"And as it's out of order, as I'm pretty sure it says so on the door, I fear there won't be any opportunity for a peep show here either." She snatched a few paper towels and dried her hands and face. "The only other reason a guy would be caught dead in a girl's bathroom would be if he sneaked in to make out with a girl." She turned around and threw him a pointed look. Then again, she was right: that thought really was ridiculous, given their current relationship – or lack thereof.

And her snidely remarks sure helped a lot for Logan to shake away the troubled, worried side of him and return to the one he was: her enemy. "Cute, Veronica, very cute. But I fear I've got to disappoint you. Not going to happen, unless in your dreams."

"You wish," she snorted and grabbed her bag from the floor. "Well, it had been fun as always, Logan, but you know how it is: got classes to attend, secrets to be uncovered and friends to betray," she added bitterly, looking away. Not waiting for his comeback and without another word she briskly walked by Logan and vanished through the door.

Frowning, he stared after her. It was somewhat amazing how fast she had pulled herself together and had returned to her usual bitchy self of lately. And there was nothing more that Logan wished than to be able to accept that he had probably imagined the sight of a sobbing, hurting Veronica earlier on. After all, he and Veronica were through with each other, had nothing to do with each other anymore than exchanging biting comments and pull nasty pranks on each other if they got real dirty.

But try as he could, he knew that he wouldn't be able to simple forget that. Or the way she had shied away from his touch, clearly afraid. Perhaps not exactly of him, but surely of something, someone. Nor could he simply forget the slightly stiff way she had moved around, her usually grace and easiness lacking. A stiffness he was all too familiar with, should he be right about the reason for said stiffness.

He turned his head to stare at himself in the mirror.

She had pulled more than one nasty prank on him that had caused him a lot of trouble – and painful punishments.

She was his enemy.

She had betrayed him and Lilly and Duncan.

She had hurt him, deeply.

He narrowed his eyes.

But hell, if she thought that he would simply forget what he had just witnessed here then she was really seriously deluded.

His eyes narrowed down to two angry glowing slits.

And he'd be damned if he would let whoever has hurt her so much simply get away with it. She was _his_ enemy. No one had the right to go after her than him. And fuck, there was certainly not one who had the right to hurt her in any way, especially physically like he dreaded someone had.

His hands balled to fists and a shudder of rage ran through him.

And God help anyone who tried to hurt her like that again.

* * *

TBC!

_(Author's note: Well, well, well, the first chapter. Hope you liked it. Yeah I know, Logan had been mean, but then, he had been a jerk to her. I guess the end made up for that, huh? Hope to have chapter 2 out soon, until then, please don't hesitate to let me know what you think!)_


	3. 2 Nasty Rumors

**Chapter 2: Nasty Rumors**

Over the following days, Logan's eyes followed one Veronica Mars as much as he could. Most of the times he covered it, sometimes he did it openly, mostly when he haunted her a bit more. Which didn't happen as often anymore as it used to be, like a few times a day.

That moment in the girl's bathroom had changed something between them, despite his best intentions to ignore that little fact. He wasn't sure what had changed. He was pretty sure though that she probably hadn't sensed the change as well. And there was a change. He had tried to deny it at first but only after two days he couldn't deny any longer anymore that now, when he caught sight of her tiny form, he wasn't fueled with instant rage anymore. Rather with something that almost bordered to being worried. Nor could he deny that he found himself more and more reluctant to harass her with his usual hurtful and biting remarks. Whenever he tried to muster up something, there would suddenly be that image of her sobbing on the cold floor of the girl's bathroom and though he knew that whatever or whoever had caused her tears for sure hadn't been him – there was always this tiny voice warning him that his next comment could perhaps cause her the same pain.

Logan hadn't forgiven her her betrayal yet – but he just couldn't bring himself anymore to haunt her like he had. Hurt her like he had.

Because seeing her like this had reminded him too starkly that this girl, whoever she was now, had once been his friend for whom he had always looked out. Sure, he hadn't been her boyfriend. But her friend, the boyfriend of her best friend, the best friend of her boyfriend, and that meant you looked out for such a girl. He had brought her home from the Kanes' house more times than he could remember. He had scared away other boys ogling at her when Duncan hadn't been there. And when he had seen that certain look in her eyes, accompanied with that faint extra straightness in her back, telling him that her mother probably had taken to dearest Johnny Walker again, he had gone out of his way to make her forget it at least for a while. By teasing her endlessly, by getting into a witty, playful argument with her and sometimes by simply taking her and Backup out for a stroll on the beach.

Like she had been there for him whenever he desperately needed a distraction, especially before the four friends got even closer together and formed couples between them, first he and Lilly, and then half a year later, Veronica and Duncan. They never talked about her mother's addiction to alcohol or his father's abuse. Actually, to this day, he wasn't sure if Veronica knew that his dark secret was that the great Aaron Echolls was nothing more than a controlling, abusing bastard who cared about nothing than himself and his oh so precious good name and career. He had given up trying to tell the world about that after his bitch of a sister had called him a lying drama queen and the doctors in the hospital always believed the crap his parents fed them about him playing roughly or fighting with other boys. But he knew that Veronica had sensed that something wasn't right in his seemingly perfect Hollywood dream home, probably because she herself hadn't exactly the perfect family either.

Now it seemed that at the moment that he had given in to his old instinct to take care for her, part of the blindfold he had put on along with letting the rage at her betrayal free slipped away and he had to admit that yeah, this Veronica wasn't the same girl anymore he had known for years – but she wasn't gone completely either. And that also meant that he couldn't harass her anymore like he had had ever since her betrayal. He just couldn't.

And boy, did that frustrate him. Thankfully, nothing stopped him to take that frustration out on Veronica. So yeah, he still haunted her with biting comments – they just had changed from being hateful to being, well, only biting.

Something that of course hadn't eluded the ever so clever Veronica Mars. The more days that passed, the more curious looks she sent his way, frowning, contemplative, puzzled – unsure. And Logan had no problem to admit that he very much enjoyed watching her struggling with his new attitude towards her, not really knowing what to expect from him anymore, not really sure how to deal with him now. So far, she had decided to avoid him if she could. And if she couldn't, to ignore him.

Fine with him. Something between them may have changed in that bathroom, but he had no intention whatsoever to re-befriend Veronica Mars again. Been there, done that – and he still hurt by her betrayal.

But come what may, he was a curious person and he wanted to know why Veronica had cried like that. And even more importantly: He wanted to make sure that whatever or whomever had been responsible would not get a second chance at hurting her again.

So he watched her from afar, taking note of the fact that the stiffness in her movements soon faded, her natural grace coming back. Watched as that slightly dazed expression in her eyes faded, making way for grim determination again, something that relieved him. He may not know this new Veronica Mars very well but he knew that this determination was a good thing, a sign of her being okay. Another sign for that was her behavior with the few people that were now her friends. At first she had avoided them all, her smile at them strained when she couldn't evade them before they caught up with them. Time passed though and soon she was letting them come closer to her again. Yesterday, she had joked around with them again, as if she was nothing else than a normal high school girl, carefree, without not one worry in the world, having a good time and laughing, with the ever sweet Meg, with the smart and witty computer freak Mac, with, unbelievable but sadly true, bad ass Weevil – and Fennel.

Logan's eyes wandered over to the table where Veronica and Fennel sat, eating their distasteful cafeteria lunch, and the wind carried over the golden, happy sound of her bright laughter and Logan felt as if something hard knocked into him, punched him painfully into his gut.

He hadn't heard that laughter in a very, very long time.

_(Flashback)_

"_Veronica, Veronica, one of these days you have to tell me how you do it!" Lilly exclaims, rushing over to plop down beside her best friend._

_Veronica looks up from her physic book and raises an eyebrow. "Do what?" she asks innocently._

"_Twist with the teachers minds so much that they totally forget that they wanted to put me in detention for the rest of my high school time here!" Lilly clarified with glistening eyes._

"_Oh that… no idea," Veronica answers and looks down at her physic book again. But Logan, who stands on the other side of the table, doesn't miss the smile that breaks out on her face. _

_Nor does Lilly. "Oh no, Ms Little Innocent, you won't get away so easy this time! I want to know how you do it!" she insists, scooting closer to Veronica._

_With a heavy sigh, Veronica closes her book and looks at Lilly. "Really Lilly, that's ridiculous, there's no secret or trick," she says exasperated._

"_I don't believe you," Lilly says, her eyes narrowing._

_Logan shakes his head. He knows that look on his current ex-girlfriend's face only too well. "Do us all the favor and tell her, anything, even if it's that you blackmail each and everyone of them into doing just what you want," Logan tells Veronica and pays the pizza delivery guy. Putting the pizza box between them, he sits down, facing the girls and smirks at the blush on Veronica's cheeks. "You know as well as me that she won't shut up otherwise," he adds with a sigh. _

"_Yeah Veronica, do us all the favor and spare us that," Dick agrees, coming over and grabbing a slice of pizza. "Spill, spill, spill!" he starts a nagging demand in which the 09ers around the table soon join in._

"_There's nothing to spill!" Veronica insists, her checks flushing._

"_Oh yeah, there is! I know you too well for that to believe you here! And you know the BFF rule: Never have secrets from the BFF!" Lilly tells Veronica, shaking a finger into her face._

"_Says just the right one," Veronica murmurs under her breath but Logan hears her anyway and chuckles. Yeah, Lilly sure loves her little secrets._

_Way too much in his opinion._

_Of course, she loves guys even more._

_Very much to his chagrin._

_The sound of Veronica's laughter draws him out of his dark thoughts and he looks up to see her shaking her head, exasperated, but smiling. "You won't give up, will you?" she asks Lilly._

_Lilly smiles brightly and in triumph. "Never!"_

"_Okay, if you absolutely need to know," Veronica sighs but there is a twinkle in her eyes that surprises Logan. It almost looks mischievously. But that's not possible. Veronica Mars is anything but mischievous. Lilly is, one could also say she's outright devious sometimes, but Veronica? Nah. Too much the good little, innocent girl scout for that. Yet, there she is, leaning closer to Lilly. "My dad's the sheriff," she whispers conspiringly. _

_She gets more than just one puzzled look for that answer._

"_What?" Lilly frowns._

_Laughing cheerfully, Veronica grabs her books and gets up. Without another word she walks away from them, her laughter keeping carrying over to them until she vanishes inside. _

_Still somewhat surprised, Logan stares after her, grinning. He has to admit, this round definitely has gone to Veronica for a change. Usually, Lilly always comes out as the winner of such a conversation. He glances over to his current ex-girlfriend and sees that she's looking after Veronica as well, still frowning – but also smiling. And… is that something like pride in her eyes?_

_(End Flashback)_

That had been two days before Lilly's murder. Logan's eyes zeroed in on Veronica, on her laughing face, on her eyes that sparkled and part of him suddenly turned furious with her, that she could sit there and be happy and laugh with her new best friend as if Lilly never had existed. She wasn't supposed to be happy with Lilly dead and her having betrayed them all. But part of him was also jealous – of Fennel and all the others who were her friends now. _Because_ they were her friends now, made her laugh, could bath in that happy laugh he had always cherished, simply because it seemed so honest and true, coming from her heart and soul and it just had to make you feel better even if you had had the worst day of your life.

It wasn't fair. He bet he needed that laugh more than any of those surrounding her now. But then, life never had been fair, certainly not for Logan. And he shouldn't sit here and pine for the good old golden times. Those times were over and it never could get to be the same as then again.

Because Lilly was gone, because Duncan had changed so much since then that Logan sometimes barely recognized him anymore, because he himself had changed – because Veronica had betrayed them, him. And she sure as hell wasn't the same anymore either.

Yet… once again he remembered that day Veronica Mars had managed to surprise him with her slyness for the first time. That short moment back then sure had been a glimpse of this new Veronica even if he had had no idea back then. And then there was the blush at his suggestion that she had blackmailed the teachers. Blushing wasn't something uncommon for the old Veronica Mars so he had never thought twice about it – but now… Could it be that he had been closer to the truth than he would ever had imagined? No. That couldn't be. He couldn't see the innocent, ever sweet Veronica blackmailing her teachers.

"_My dad's the sheriff."_

That's what she had said back then. He had never quite gotten what she had meant by that, thinking it had been a joke. Of course he never had really thought about it. He and some of the boys were planning a trip to Tijuana and then there had been the frustration with Lilly and that nagging feeling that this time, their break-up was final. That there was some other guy in the picture. So no, he surely had had other things on his mind than to ponder about something Veronica Mars had said.

Now though…

Before her betrayal, Veronica had been accepted pretty much everywhere – and surely not because everyone had liked her oh so much. Sure, she had been liked, but nothing like Lilly or he himself had been liked. Yet, there never had been a quarrel with anyone and that was a little unusual. And of course she was a pretty girl, always had been. Hell, the first time he had met her he had thought she was the one single most sexiest girl he ever had the pleasure of meeting and he knew from the talks in the boy's bathrooms and showers that he wasn't the only one thinking so. Yet, there hardly had ever been boys after her.

Why not?

He couldn't be sure but he knew why he himself had never dared to go after her, before he had fallen for Lilly of course. Besides, her friendship had always been more important to him than anything else, one of the few people in the world who had never cared that he was the son of Aaron and Lynn Echolls. But in the few moments he had imagined asking Veronica out or perhaps try to kiss her at some time, he always remembered one thing that pretty much put a stop to all such thoughts:

Her dad. He had a gun. He was allowed to use it. Because he had been the sheriff.

Thinking about it, it made sense. Before the whole fiasco about Lilly's murder, Keith Mars had the reputation of being a good man, a good sheriff who did his work right. But that also meant that he was more than capable to catch the bad boys and do everything that was needed to do that. So Keith Mars had also been respected and yeah, feared. Could it be that Veronica's answer had simply been the truth? That whenever her sweetness and innocent big eyes couldn't get her what she wanted, the fear of what her father could do to you would have gotten her her wish, with or without her helping towards it?

Or perhaps they had simply feared what she may know. After all, Keith Mars knew a lot of the dirty little secrets Neptune had and who knew what his family caught up of that? Not to mention that he had unlimited recourses to find everything out about you _and_ to make your life a living hell.

Of course Keith Mars wasn't the man who would use his position in such a way, Logan knew that, even now after his fall for disgrace. But then, he knew the Mars family probably better than most here in Neptune, due to his friendship with Veronica.

His late friendship with Veronica, he reminded himself with a frown. He glanced over to her again, still laughing, still joking around with Fennel. Oh yeah, it was more than obvious that he and Veronica Mars had nothing in common anymore but perhaps a few memories of a dead girl they both had loved.

Shaking his head at his unusual deep thoughts involving Veronica Mars, he looked down at his lunch again, determined to not think about the tiny blond girl anymore.

He never saw the fist coming his way and connecting hard with his jaw, causing him to fly backwards and hit the floor hard with his back.

"You fucking bastard!"

Blinking, Logan squinted against the sun, trying to see who the hell had decked him. Once the dark scheme of a figure morphed into a live 3-D person, he frowned. He was pretty positive that he had never in his life seen this guy before. "What the hell…"

But the guy didn't wait for him to finish as he barreled forward, obviously intent on ripping into Logan with his bare fists. Before it came to bloodshed though, Dick and Luke grabbed the furious guy, effectively keeping him away from Logan.

Still frowning, Logan got up, tentatively fingering his jaw. Hell, it hurt. And it would probably give him one nice shiner he would have to explain to his father. Fuck. With that thought, rage took over and with two big steps, he was over at the guy and punched him hard into the stomach, causing him to sack down in Dick and Luke's tight hold.

Didn't stop the guy from talking though. "Yeah, fits. You rich asshole can't fight a fair fight and need your lackeys here to hold me back. Bet you love to go after those who can't fight back and are weak, huh?"

Logan narrowed his eyes. "What the fuck is your problem? I don't even know you!" he hissed. He had never in his life stepped down from a fight and boy, he sure knew how to fight!

"You better get to know me now, 'cause I want you to know who it was who finished you off!" the guy roared, struggling against the hold on his arms.

"Dude's fucking crazy," Dick said, frowning.

"You think you can get away with raping my little sister! I'll kill you for even laying a hand on her!" the guy screamed, his face red with fury.

Taken aback by those words, Logan actually stepped back. Whoa, wait, _what _had that lunatic just said?

_Rape?_

He looked at Dick and Luke to see if he had heard right. Judging by their stupefied looks on their faces he guessed he had.

"What? Cat ate your tongue? You thought hey, she's just some cheap chick from the 03 zip code so what does it matter what I do to her? You're wrong! I don't care who you are, you're going to pay for hurting my little sister!" the guy continued to scream.

Coming out of his own momentary stupor, Logan stepped forward and grabbed the guy at the collar of his shirt, yanking him face to face. "Listen, asshole, I don't know you, I don't know your sister and I sure as hell haven't raped anyone!" he told the guy in a barely controlled voice. How dare he accuse him of something like that? He'd never hurt a girl in such a way, damn it!

"Mike?"

The shrill question made the gathered people turn their heads towards the red haired girl staring wide eyed at the furious guy held by Dick and Luke.

"What are you doing here?" she gasped, her eyes going from the guy, Mike, to Logan, to the folks gathered around, and her eyes widened even more as the color left her face.

"Go away Rosie! I'm dealing with that asshole and then he'll never lay a finger on you again!" Mike exclaimed.

Upon that, Logan's eyes narrowed on the girl. Rosalind Harper. So she was the bitch that had started all of this. Last week, he had made the mistake to take her out on a date. He had no idea why, he wasn't really attracted to her nor was she exactly known as something remotely intelligent. Quite the contrary. But she had the reputation of being an easy girl and not a bad fuck and at the time he had asked her out, an easy fuck had just been what he wanted. He had regretted it almost immediately, but well… a word was a word. So he had taken her out like promised. After an hour he had had enough. She wasn't just stupid, she was dumb, so dumb that it almost hurt and Logan was less than interested in anything she offered. And offer she did. The part about her being an easy girl hadn't been a lie. He refused though, rather forcefully when she wouldn't get the picture and had put her into a taxi to take her home while he went out to join the boys at a little beach party.

His face thunderous, he stalked over to her. "_What_ have you done, bitch?" he demanded to know, furious.

She blanched and stepped back from him.

"You leave her alone!" her brother screamed from behind him.

Logan ignored him and took another step forward, threateningly. "You told your brother I've raped you? What the fuck! I didn't even kiss you, let alone having sex with you!"

Something clouded her eyes and he laughed. "Ah, that's the problem, huh? Couldn't take it that I wasn't interested, huh? So you ran to your brother and fed him some dirty lies." He struck his finger into her face. "You think they'll believe you over me? Get real!" he told her venomously.

A frown appeared between her eyes and suddenly, there was color back in her cheeks while her back straightened. "You so sure about that?" she mouthed, so only he could hear her. "I wouldn't be in your place." Before he could react in any way, she slapped him and stumbled back, her eyes filling with tears. "Don't touch me! You hurt me enough you raping jerk!" she screamed and flew himself into the arms of one of the girls behind her.

Shocked, Logan watcher her show, a rather poorly performance in his opinion. Too bad that there would still be people who were going to buy it. People could be stupid like that.

"What is going on here?"

Logan looked up to see Director Clemmens glaring at the pupils. Great, just great. He couldn't need another suspension! Especially not again for something he didn't do!

"Crazy Dude here sneaked on school grounds, attacking my buddy Logan here," Dick casually said, pointing to the enraged Mike and shrugged. "Probably some crazy fan, you know how crazy they are."

"That's a lie! I'm…" Mike started to protest but quickly got quieted up by a harsh elbow into his stomach, courtesy to Luke.

Clemmens, never having been known for his smartness either, simply nodded with a disgusted face and nodded to the boys to get Mike away what they quickly did while Clemmens turned to head back inside with fast steps.

Logan sighed in relief and nodded his thanks over to his friends. That had been close. Looking over at Rosalind, glaring at him, he had the feeling that this farce wasn't over by far though. His gaze swept over the still gawking crowd of people and he wasn't blind to the stares of disgust and mistrust. They didn't surprise him – but he was still miffed that they so readily started to think of him as a rapist just because some stupid, scorned chick had the brilliant idea to spread lies about him.

His hands clenching, he turned to face the rest of the 09ers. At least there most looked at him as if they were on his side. Still, even among them he could suddenly see uncertainness. Great. Fucking great. What was he supposed to do now? He couldn't go after the bitch or it would probably look really ugly. Of course he could let his father's hounds of lawyer's descend on the girl, but that would need him asking his father for help and he wouldn't do that. He couldn't. His father's answers would most probably anyway be to go choose a belt for him.

His hands balled to fists. No. He wouldn't give that bitch the satisfaction that she had gotten to him on some way. He wouldn't let them all see the fear he was feeling of what his father would do once he heard of the rumors that his son had raped a girl. He'd show them that he didn't take this farce serious, that this was all a joke to him that left him totally unfazed and unworried, because he knew he had nothing to fear. Not because he was a 09er and Aaron Echolls' son, but because he was innocent.

Right.

He forced his hands to unclench and relax and plastered on his usual smirk as he raised his head high and stepped back to his friends. "Man, the length scorned women go to nowadays," he commented lightly with a shrug. "Any pizza left?" he added as if he hadn't just been accused to be a low scum rapist in front of the whole school.

Uneasily and somewhat forced, his friends started to joke about the scene and Rosalind as well. Logan nodded and laughed automatically, his eyes though keeping glancing around him. Slowly, the others started to mind their own business again, undoubtedly still talking about the little drama scene they had just witnessed if the glances his way were any indication. Logan pretended to not notice them, something he was good at. He sure had enough practice of it, being the son of Hollywood stars. Still, he hoped to God that the lunch would soon be over and he could hightail out of here, escaping the looks and whispers and find someplace to think what he could do to prevent having the police show up on his doorstep to question him about the rape of Rosalind Harper.

He grew aware of the fact that he felt eyes on him, heavy, and he looked up. His eyes met with a pair of deep green eyes, looking at him, not condescending, not trustfully, not hating, not friendly, just contemplative. For a long moment, their eyes kept being locked until he raised an eyebrow as if to say 'What? Have something to say? Let's hear it.' in his usual mocking, biting way. She surprised him though. She didn't blush and look away like she would have done before she cut her hair and changed to tough Veronica Mars. Nor did she scoff and glare and eventually look away like said new Veronica would have done. No. She smiled.

Simply smiled.

He wanted to believe that it was a gleeful smile for him getting a taste of what he caused her to go through after he had launched his attack on her and taking the lead of the 'I hate Veronica Mars' fan club. But he _knew_ that this wasn't such a smile. Nor was it the sort of a pitiful smile for him being in this mess right now, thank God. If he hated one thing, then it was pity. No. It was more the kind of smile that simply let him know that she knew where he was, that she had been there and could understand – and that she didn't believe Rosalind's accusations.

Suddenly, breathing got a tad bit harder and for the first time since a long time, _he_ was to one who looked away first. If it wasn't even for the first time ever. The smile confused him. But what confused him even more was the fact that it was just that smile that helped ease up the tension he felt.

Because that meant she had power over him. Perhaps always had.

And that realization scared him a lot more than some accusation of rape hurled his way.

* * *

Three days later he wasn't so sure about that anymore. Rosalind wouldn't shut her mouth up though she had yet to fill a report. But of course it didn't really need an official report to cause damage. The more she talked, the more unpleasant looks he got. The rumor had spread and had finally made it to the tabloids as well. They were careful of course in what they were saying, but the implication got across clear enough.

His father had been furious and now his back hurt worse than it had in a long time, so badly that he had actually been forced to take a few painkillers from his mom's cabinet, something he usually avoided to do, seeing how his mother threw them in as if they were some mere bonbons. But it was the only way for him to go attend school, something his father had insisted on, though rather unnecessarily. He would have done anything to get away from home. Besides, he didn't want to give Rosalind the satisfaction of knowing that she had driven him to stay home and hide.

So he did as if he wasn't aware of the constant stares and the hushed whispers. He did as if he didn't notice the reporters waiting for him in front of the Neptune High or the Echolls' mansion. He forced himself to laugh and joke and basically do what he was always doing. And in the meantime he took note of who exactly turned out to be a real friend now and who not. Not that there were many of his friends and social contacts who turned against him. Of course he couldn't be sure if that was true loyalty or simply them sticking to the code of the 09ers holding the front against the rest of the world together.

But he did know that Duncan and Dick and some of the other guys never had a doubt about his innocence in this matter and that was a real good feeling.

Still, the situation got more and more to him and he was really starting to get frustrated – and edgy. He knew that it wouldn't be wise to even try to confront the bitch in any way, without his father and the lawyers and the public relation agent hammering that into him time and time again. But he hated it to not be able to do anything about it. That bitch was messing with his life, with his reputation and he couldn't even go after her like he had gone after Veronica. Sure, his friends had no qualms to talk dirty about her or start rumors on their own, but he could do nothing. And it didn't help that the counter attack of his friends only seemed to fuel Rosalind's resolve to play the victim here.

Ha! Her and a victim. Now _that_ was a good laugh.

Lunchtime arrived and he was found sitting with a bunch of 09ers at their usual tables, ignoring everyone with the wrong zip code in their address while Rosalind and her friends and supporter were sitting across from them, keeping glancing over to Logan, glaring, laughing, snarling. The usual groups sat at their usual tables, watching it all. Your average high school lunch break.

Or perhaps not.

"Oh Jeannie, don't be so naïve. So yeah, he looks hot, at least to some girls I guess, and yeah, he's Aaron's son but honestly, just wait 'til he gets you alone, then he shows his real face and I tell you, girl, it's ugly and scary," Rosalind told some girl loud enough for her voice to carry over to the 09er section.

Logan clenched his jaw and forced himself to not show any reaction or glare over to her with all the hate he felt.

"But…"

"No Jeannie, really. He's a real whacko, going all berserk. No wonder that Kane girl of his always broke up with him. She probably was just too afraid of him, that's why she always went back to him," Rosalind said with a sad sigh. "Wouldn't surprise me if he had her killed after all."

Okay, that was going too far now! How dared that bitch to even say Lilly's name! She had no business in dragging Lilly into this mess! Seeing red, he jumped up, not caring anymore what was wise to do or not. Hands tried to hold him back and he struggled against them. That woman was going to pay for what she had just dared to say!

The unmistakable sound of a palm hitting flesh broke through his enraged haze and caused the entire audience gathered around the lunch area to fall into shocked and unbelieving silence.

Logan and along with him probably pretty much everyone blinked to find Veronica Mars standing in front of Rosalind, her eyes blazing with fury at the redhead she had just slapped with all the force she could muster and despite the other girl being nearly a head taller than her.

"You better watch what you are saying, Rosie Harper, or by God, I swear I'll bring my pit-bull with me tomorrow and let him lose on you. See how many guys are willing then to get you laid once he's finished with you," she said, awfully calmly, in that cheery, sweet innocent way she often used to talk in lately.

Again, there was only stunned silence for a long moment before Rosie, a hand firmly pressed against her burning cheek, sprang up with a screech. "What the hell, Mars? You of all people…" she started to sputter.

"Know exactly just what a jackass Logan Echolls can be," Veronica interrupted her dryly. "He's more often a jerk than not, he's arrogant, self-centered and hey, he makes himself really great as the ever evil miscreant. He can be ruthless in his wrath, unforgiving and he has a temper problem. I'm first to admit all that." Her eyes narrowed dangerously. "But I also know that he would never, _ever_, raise even a finger against anything with two X chromosomes and would rather kill himself than rape anyone."

"Says the girl after which he went with an iron tire," Rosalind threw in heatedly, causing Logan to flinch at the memory. Right. The public would love that little fact in addition with the ridiculous accusation of rape.

"He didn't." Veronica said flatly and laughed a humorless laugh. "He went after my _car_ with an iron tire, not me, big difference. I knew, he knew and pretty much everyone who knows him knew that he'd never raise that thing against me."

Flushed, Rosalind stomped with her foot. "But he…"

"He did nothing to you than dump you before you could even lay one finger on him, let alone get to meet his father through you," Veronica icily interrupted her again. "But of course you couldn't admit that, no, that would have hurt your reputation after all and let you look like a fool because not thirty minutes after he asked you out - and I got to say that his only real crime here was to have been so deluded to ask a skunk like you out - you told the whole world that you were dating Logan now and soon would meet his father as well, visiting the set and all that, no? Plan didn't work out though, no? You haven't counted with Logan actually having a brain and at least a little taste, recognizing fast that you weren't worth his time or attention."

"Why you little…"

Veronica simply cut off her protest again. "Hmm, must have been a real bummer for you, I can imagine that. What would your friends say when they heard that you couldn't even bring ever charming Logan Echolls to kiss you, let alone do the dirty dance with you in which you're so experienced if one wants to believe the rumors?" She shook her head. "Oh, you were angry, weren't you? And frustrated. So you went to the next bar and found yourself some action, didn't you?"

Rosalind blanched, causing Veronica to smile.

"Yeah Rosie, I know about Hank. And even better, I have proof that you were with him in the time Logan supposedly raped you. Plus, I have it on tape how you and Hank and some girl named Tina talk about how you'll milk the Echolls for a few thousand bucks. Tz, tz, tz, really Rosie, why just a little pocket money when they could afford to pay millions? Oh, but I guess you knew that a girl with your reputation had to stay modest," Veronica haunted, cocking her head to the side in that innocent way she had adapted. "It may also interest you that I have pictures. Of you and Hank. And Paul. And Mitch. And José, though I fear that's one a bit blurry, but boy, you two sure had it shaking, hadn't you?"

Rosalind's eyes widened in shock and she paled even more, her mouth gaping at Veronica.

Suddenly, all false humor fell away from Veronica as she leaned forward, her eyes calm and pure ice frost. "And you can be sure that if I even hear you accusing anyone of rape again while it isn't true, those pictures will find their way to your brother and father dearest. I doubt they'd like to learn just what a _not_ innocent girl you really are. Got it?"

Pressing her lips into a tight line, Rosalind nodded, her eyes glaring at Veronica with all the hate of the world.

Not that Veronica seemed to care. She got into Rosalind's face even more, her eyes chilling to Antarctica level. "And never, ever, dare to talk about Lilly again. You didn't know her. And you didn't know her and Logan. So keep your mouth shut and don't talk about things that aren't your business in the first place and you know nothing about anyway. Or I get really angry."

Thus said, she pushed away and turned her back to the furious Rosalind to head off, away from the lunch area.

Balling her hands to fists, Rosalind jumped up, shooting daggers at Veronica's retreating back. "Fuck you, Mars! Anyone here knows you're a slut! You're probably banging Echolls as well and now just try to save your stupid lover!"

Veronica stopped dead in her tracks to slowly turn back to Rosalind, looking unbelieving at the girl, and Logan found himself involuntarily snickering. Not only was the idea of him and Veronica simply hilarious, but Veronica's reaction to this outrageous suggestion was even more comical. She stared at the skunk, flabbergasted for a long moment, before she very slowly turned her head in Logan's direction for the first time since she stepped in to save his honor. Their eyes met briefly and for a tiny moment, the hate and the betrayal between them was forgotten, both of them falling back to being the friends they, once upon a time, used to be. A smile formed on both their faces as their eyes started to twinkle.

With a loud sigh, Veronica shook her head, still looking up at Logan. "Oh darn, Honey, I guess our secrets out now. No more secret meetings in the closet, no more stolen kisses, no further hot monkey sex sessions in Big Yellow."

Logan grinned, raising an eyebrow. Big Yellow? Oh, she'd pay for that one. He too sighed heavily, nodding sadly. "Guess so, Sugarpuss. What the hell, they can as well know about our secret engagement now, whadda say, Baby?"

Her eyes narrowed a tad bit, before she shrugged, smiling brightly. "Why not? I'm starting to show soon anyway, right Daddy Duddling?"

Now it was his turn to narrow his eyes slightly, but then he simply let it go. For a moment longer, they held their eyes before they both broke out in a sarcastic laughter, ridiculing Rosalind's last statement even further, before they both turned away from each other, heading to mind their own business.

Many of the spectators laughed as well, sending gleeful glances and nasty comments Rosalind's way, who soon stormed off in direction parking lot, undoubtfully to escape the shame of the clearly lost war. Logan stayed for a moment longer with his friends and common 09er fellows, nodding and agreeing with their reassurances that they always knew what a lying bitch Rosalind was. Throughout all, Logan was more than aware of a pair of eyes of a certain best friend of his, sitting beside him, watching him constantly.

"What?" Logan finally asked exasperated after a few more moments, quietly, so only Duncan could hear him.

Duncan shrugged. "Didn't know you and Veronica made up and moved past this ludicrous war you two had going on."

Logan frowned. "What are you talking about? We did nothing alike. Nothing changed at the fact that we're enemies." As soon as the words left his mouth, he cringed inwardly. That sounded way too much as if he rather tried to convince himself than Duncan.

"So I just imagined her clearing your name only a few minutes ago, something she didn't have to do as I doubt that you have asked her for help," Duncan said casually, his eyes boring into Logan's, challenging.

"I don't know why she does what she does. Probably just wanted to show everyone just what a good, little PI she is," Logan said more defensively than he liked. "Plus, she probably knew just how much I'd _love_ to owe her a favor. Which I don't," he said, frowning.

Getting a disgusted look on his face, Duncan shook his head and stood up. "You know what the sad thing is? I think you actually believe that crap yourself." He shook his head one more time. "Do what you want, believe what you want – but I think even you know that you at least owe her a thank you, if nothing else."

Before Logan could say anything, Duncan left. Frowning, Logan looked down. Truth was that yeah, it looked like he should probably thank Veronica for what she had done. Not that he had asked her for help – or wanted it. But she had just cleared his name in a pretty effective way. After all, if even Veronica Mars, Logan Echolls' declared enemy, stepped up for him, believed into his innocence without a single doubt in her mind and had no qualms to tell so the whole world, then it had to be true after all, hadn't it?

But why had she done it?

They hated each other. Their friendship was long past. So why would she go to the trouble and investigate the little skunk, just to help him?

Was it similar to the reasons he had had when he had found her crying and hurting in the girl's bathroom and, even if it was just for a short while, had forgotten their animosity and tried to be there for her? Was it perhaps her way to repay him for that fleeting moment in time, so they owed each other nothing? But then, she hadn't been very thankful or accepting of his offer for help back then.

And here he was at the why again.

With a frustrated sigh, he looked at his watch and quickly stood up, making his excuses. He didn't like to be in Veronica Mars' debt, especially not liking that he had no idea if that was what she thought now or expected from him. The sooner they got this cleared between them, the better.

Time for a little chat.

First, he tried it in the newsroom, knowing that she often went there during lunch break to work on an article – or something else. Not this time though. Frowning, he tried to figure out where he could find her. If he remembered right, her next class was mathematics, but only in twenty minutes or so, so he doubted that she had headed towards the class room already. That left the bathroom and her locker. Grumbling, he left the newsroom towards the bathroom, not especially keen on meeting her once again in a girl's bathroom.

He shouldn't have worried. There was no 'Out of order' sign hanging on the door.

Resigned, he made his way over to where her locker was. If he didn't find her there, he'd just wait until they'd crossed paths next.

In that moment, a few feet away in front of Logan, Veronica came out of a classroom, immediately turning away from him to head towards her locker, never noticing him.

Quickly, Logan checked the hallway. No one but him and Veronica around. Good enough for him. He didn't know what to expect from her but experience told him that it was probably a good thing if they hadn't had any audience for their little chat.

"Veronica," he called out, quickening his steps to close the gap between them.

She stopped and looked back over her shoulder, frowning when she spotted him. "What?" she asked, cautiously, provocative, he wasn't quite sure.

Logan came to a stop in front of her and looked down at her, for a moment unsure what to say. She waited a few beats, her eyebrows rising in a silent question. When he still didn't say anything, she shrugged and turned away.

Somehow, that broke Logan's frozen mind. "Why did you do it?" he blurted out.

Again, she stopped and looked back up at him. "Do what?" she asked with a frown.

He frowned as well. "Don't play coy now, Veronica. Why did you help me? I didn't ask you to."

For a moment, she looked at him, before she slowly shook her head. "No, you didn't, nor did I expect you to. And just for your information: I didn't help you. So no need for any thanks."

Logan narrowed his eyes. "That's good, 'cause I wasn't going to thank you anyway." He paused, holding her eyes. "And hate to tell you this, but thanks to your little Miss Marple scene out there the whole school's gonna think that you just, in fact, helped me, sooooo…. What should I tell them when they ask me why Veronica Mars would help me of all people?" he asked, raising his eyebrows with a smirk.

With a deep sigh, she shrugged. "I dunno, Logan, just tell them whatever you want. I'm sure you can come up with something imaginative. After all, you were always good at telling stories. Not to mention that you actually excelled in it, this past year, especially when it comes to me starring in your little stories."

Damn her for making him feel a slight pang of guilt at that! "What can I say? You're always good for some good old gossip," he retorted, more heatedly than he wanted to sound.

"Oh, don't sell yourself short, Logan, you're making yourself pretty good in the tabloids as well. I think that beats a few nasty high school rumors," Veronica said sweetly and turned away, knowing well enough that she had just handed out a damn good comeback.

Gritting his teeth, Logan grabbed her arm, yanking her back around to him. "Why Veronica?" he demanded to know, leaning down to stare into her eyes. "If you wanted to help me or not, you had to know that this would be the result when you went after Rosalind. And somehow I have trouble to believe that you went through with it just for the sake of a long forgotten friendship. So why? Why do it anyway?"

He couldn't explain why it was so important for him to know her reasons for helping him. He just knew he needed to know.

Her eyes stared up in his. "You wanna know why I did it?" she asked, her voice laced with anger. "Fine. It didn't matter that she accused _you_ of rape. It could have been Dick, or Duncan or the guy who always walks around in green pants. It didn't matter. She was telling lies, and I hate lies." She freed her arm from Logan's rather loose grip, her eyes never leaving him. "I knew it the moment she accused you, because our friendship may be forgotten, but it doesn't change the fact that I once knew you good enough to know that you couldn't have done what she accused you of. Besides, if it were real, she wouldn't have been so damn gleeful about it." She took a deep breath as something clouded her eyes. "You don't go and boast around that you've been raped, let alone be gleeful about it," she said, almost in a whisper, before she shook her head and her eyes cleared once again, glaring up at Logan with heat. "I went after her because I can't stand girls like her. It's because of bitches like her that girls who really were raped are laughed upon and have to fear to be shunned and ridiculed when they bring up the courage to step forward and report the crime. So I did everything in my power to prove her to be the lying bitch I knew she was." She focused back on Logan. "That it cleared your name as well was just a by-product, so don't go around thinking I did anything for you, Logan. I think we know pretty much where each of us stands. There's no need to thank me and we owe each other nothing." She gazed into his eyes for a few more seconds before she stepped back and turned away from him.

Logan stayed where he was, watching her moving away from him, confused. He was strangely kind of relieved that helping him had indeed not been her motive for exposing Rosalind's dirty games. But there was something in the way she had explained her true reasons for going after that Rosalind that troubled him on some deep level, he just couldn't pinpoint it. Deciding that he wouldn't be able to figure it out right now, he pushed that thought away.

"Veronica," he called out after her once again.

Exasperated, she stopped to look back at him in a way that screamed 'Now what?'.

Logan almost smiled. Almost. "For what it's worth: Thanks," he told her quietly.

Surprise flickered over her face for a moment, before she slowly nodded, simply accepting his thanks.

This time, they both turned away from each other, her finally making the few feet over to her locker, Logan intent to get to his own locker to gather the books he'd need for his next class. Dimly, he heard her opening the locker. Suddenly though, he could hear her gasping, followed immediately by the loud sound of her books crashing to the floor. He swiveled around sharply to see her staring into her locker, her face drained of all color.

Logan moved without thinking. Within seconds, he was behind Veronica who had just slammed her locker shut, leaning against the locker wall, trembling. Still acting on instinct, he circled her tiny waist with one arm to draw her against his body, away from the locker so he could open it with his other arm, ignoring her yelp of surprise and protest, ignoring her slight struggle against him.

Once he got a good eyeful of the interior of her locker, his eyes widened and he felt the color drain from his face as well. Involuntarily, he tightened his hold on Veronica, drawing her even closer to him.

"What the fuck…" he whispered, shock rippling trough him.

* * *

TBC!

_(Author's Note: I just love cliffhangers, don't you too? I'll try to get out the next chapter soon, but I fear I first need to update on my GG stories, so it might take a short while, sorry for that. Just go crazy with imagining what may be in that locker. I'm thrilled by the wonderful reviews, thanks so much! They keep me writing – well no, that's a lie, I'd write anyway. It just makes even more fun to write with getting so much encouragement.)_


	4. 3 Trying

**Chapter 3: Trying**

It was just one photo that hung on a mini rope, placed so that your eyes fell immediately onto the picture.

A picture that made the blood in Logan's veins run cold – if not freeze altogether. A digitally mastered photo that made his stomach turn – at what it showed and at just what the implications of that scenery could mean.

Logan for sure felt sick just by looking at the damn photo. It _was_ sick.

Suddenly though, yellowness obstructed his view and, with the gruesome picture gone from the sight of his eyes, Logan slowly came back to the here and now, realizing that Veronica had slammed shut the door to her locker once again.

"Let go of me, Logan!" Veronica snapped, wriggling in the tight hold he still had on her, as he suddenly grew aware of.

For a moment, Logan thought about refusing to let her go, but soon enough, he realized how stupid that was. So he let her go, slowly. Immediately, she pushed away from him, making him retreat a few steps. He stared at her, trying to think again and process what he had seen in her locker and its implications. Of course though, she didn't offer any explanation. In fact, she pretty much avoided to look at him, doing her best to ignore him.

Grimly, Logan's eyes narrowed. Tough luck there. After what he had just seen, he sure as hell wouldn't rest until he knew just _what_ he had seen.

"Care to tell me what that is?" he demanded to know, pointing at her locker.

She didn't even turn her head to look at him. "Nothing. Nothing at all," she said crisply, trying to sound nonchalant.

But Logan wasn't fooled. He had picked up on the slight waver in her voice. And he wasn't oblivious to her still very pale skin, nor the faint trembles he could see running through her body. "The hell it is!" he hissed, taking a step closer to the locker again, attempting to open it once again and stuck the 'nothing, nothing at all' directly under her nose. He stopped though the moment she tensed and pressed herself against the locker, turning, a haunted look in her eyes.

She was scared. Well, not too surprisingly after finding such a photographic message in her locker, but she seemed to be afraid of _him_!

Frowning, Logan slowly held up a hand and took a step back again. "Ronnie," he said softly.

For a moment, she seemed frozen, but then she took a deep breath and her body visibly relaxed. She bit her lip and shook her head, her eyes down. After another deep breath, she pushed herself away from the locker wall. "Don't you have somewhere else to be?" she asked, turning around to swiftly lock her locker. "Something better to do?" she added and crouched down to pick up the books that had fallen to the ground.

Logan watched her, only too familiar with her tactic to avoid the subject. He liked to use sarcasm to get rid of someone as well. Too bad that he had no intentions whatsoever to leave her alone right now. Not until he had gotten to the bottom of this.

"Nice try, Veronica, but I fear it won't work. I want to know what the fuck is going on here! What has that picture to do in your locker? Who put it there? And what the hell does it mean?" Logan once again demanded to know.

Veronica gathered up the last of her books and stood back up, finally turning to face him. "Nothing that concerns you, Logan, nor is it any of your business. So just forget about it," she told him clip and clear and turned to go.

His eyes narrowed to slits, Logan quickly moved forward to grab her arm and yank her back around to face him. "If someone puts a crime scene picture of my dead girlfriend in your locker, with a shot of you right beside it, draped just like Lilly's body, then the hell it isn't my business!" he hissed, glaring into her eyes. "You really think I'll just forget about that?"

She stared up into his eyes and for a moment, he thought she was going to crumble. He should have known better. Veronica Mars didn't crumble. At least not in front of him.

"It's just a prank, sick, but a prank none the less," Veronica answered evenly, adding a shrug, her head turning away from him.

Gritting his teeth, Logan tightened his grip on her arm, causing her to look back up at him. "Don't kid with me. That isn't a prank and you damn well know it!"

"Just leave it alone, Logan," Veronica though said with a trace of tiredness in her voice.

Logan eased up his hold on her, his eyes never leaving hers. "You know I can't," he said, barely above a whisper. "I want to know what's going on."

Veronica shook her head. "No, Logan, you don't. You don't want to know." She freed herself out of his grip and stepped away from him. "It's just a sick joke, admittedly not very funny, but hey, each to his own." Thus said, she turned and walked away from him.

"A joke?" Logan asked unbelieving, following her right on her heels. "Someone places a picture of Lilly's body in your locker with one of you right beside it, dead as her, and you call it a joke?"

She looked back at him over her shoulder, her eyes narrowed. "Sure, why not? Bashing in my headlights and slicing up my tires were oh so funny after all, I guess my level of humor just skyrocketed."

Logan stopped dead in his tracks and this time, when she headed away from him, he didn't follow her.

How could she compare that with this… this… picture? It was nothing alike! He had smashed in her headlights to get even with her for the bong. She knew that. Okay, perhaps it had been a little bit – heavy, but that wasn't important. He knew she knew that it really meant nothing. And her tires… he had never touched her tires. Okay, so he knew who had done it and yeah, he had his fun to be gleeful about it and had no qualms at all to show so to Veronica. Nor hadn't he the slightest problem with letting her believe that he had been responsible for it. But damn it, this was something else entirely!

He glanced back at her locker. After a moment, he angrily turned away from it and swiftly turned to finally head towards his own locker to go get his books.

Not that it did much to get his mind off the situation. The memory of the picture just wouldn't leave his mind. He saw his precious Lilly's body, once so beautiful, now bloody and broken, her eyes, always shining with life, empty and dull, wide in her death. It wasn't the first time he had seen the crime scene pictures, thanks to the video that had leaked into the internet a few weeks after the murder, but being confronted with it again was still a shock and definitely something he could do without. Strangely though, it wasn't the image of Lilly's body that made his stomach turn and that haunted him the most. No, it was the shot of Veronica, her slim, petite body draped just like Lilly's had been, her still long, blonde hair dark with her blood as was the white dress she was wearing and her green eyes, as sparkling and full of life as Lilly's had been, empty and dead. Of course it was only a digitally mastered picture, yet… the eeriness and seemingly reality of the picture and the clear threat it presented made the hair on his neck stand up, unsettled him in a deep way.

Arriving at his locker, he quickly crouched down and pinched in his lock combination. Getting his books out, he got up and slammed the locker shut again with his foot, for a moment just remaining to stand there.

Veronica could say what she wanted, but this little surprise clearly was more than just a sick joke. The digitally manipulating of Veronica's photo must have taken some art crafting and time. Not to mention that whoever had done it had gone out of his way to place it somewhere where Veronica would surely find it and definitely not expect it. From what he had seen, her lock hadn't been broken, so that had to mean that someone had picked the lock. Granted, their locks weren't exactly the safest on the market, still, Logan doubted that there were actually many people at Neptune High who knew how to pick a lock. Assuming of course it had been one of the few hundreds people here at school. He doubted though that it had been an outsider. After all, the culprit had had to come in sometime this morning to plant the surprise in Veronica's locker and one could say many things about Neptune High, but the school did try to keep the school grounds as safe as possible and you couldn't just walk in and break into one of the locker. They couldn't afford that, not with all the billionaire's kids attending the school, otherwise each would be kidnapper would come here to snatch up one of the 09er kids.

But the most important question was why would someone go to such length in order to scare off Veronica? And why did the person, who was behind all this, choose the crime scene picture of Lilly? It implied that it had something to do with Lilly's murder – but that didn't make sense. Lilly's murderer was in prison, waiting for his execution. So why planting something in her locker that logically warned Veronica to stop doing whatever she was doing or she'd end up just like Lilly?

God, in just what a mess did that girl get herself involved with? That someone seemed it fit to scare her off like that?

Many questions and Logan had no answers for them. But he intended to find them out.

Because now, even more than before, he was determined to get to the bottom of this whole business.

Because he wouldn't allow loosing yet another person important to him. Wouldn't allow someone to take Veronica away from him.

And strange as it was, Veronica was important to him. He wasn't quite sure if it was because of their old friendship, their animosity of this last year or of the fact that recent events had showed him that Veronica wasn't as indifferent to him as he had wanted himself to believe she was. He just knew that she was important and that he couldn't bear to lose her too.

He needed her in his life, as a friend, as an enemy, he had no idea. Fact was, he needed her. And boy, was this revelation startling and very, very disturbing. Not to mention unexpected. A few hours before, if anyone would have asked him, he'd have sworn every oath that Veronica was nothing to him, surely not someone he needed in his life.

Not that it was important now. All that counted was finding a way to get to know just what exactly was going on.

Unfortunately, as far as he could see it, only one person held all the answers he seeked.

Veronica.

Given the status of their relationship and how their last few confrontations had went, it was unlikely that she'd volunteer the information easily.

So Logan would have to find a way to make her talk anyway. And knowing her, he doubted that anything less than gaining her trust again would do the trick. But in order to gain her trust he would have to go a long way, do a lot of things. Or didn't he? She had helped him only today. And even though she had clammed up again, the last few times they had been alone together, there had been moments when her shield had been down. Both of their shields, if he wanted to be honest. So perhaps it wasn't so farfetched after all, thinking to be able to regain her trust.

But wouldn't that mean that he would have to start to trust her again too?

He wasn't sure if he could do that.

If he wanted it.

If he could afford it.

She had already shattered his trust once before and with that had destroyed their friendship.

It was madness to even think about letting her in again!

He caught a glimpse of her, hurrying Fennel towards the history classroom.

It may be madness. But if it was the only way to keep her from meeting the same fate as Lilly had, then he couldn't hesitate to do it anyway.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Okay. As it was pretty obvious that Veronica wouldn't simply start to trust him again, Logan figured that he first needed to find a way to spend time together again. He wasn't sure if it would get them anywhere, but at least this way he had an opportunity to nag her a little more about that photo. Not to mention that he could keep an eye on her like that.

Fortunately, by the time the last class arrived, Logan had gotten an idea how he could arrange for Veronica having to spend time with him again.

"Ms Dent?" he asked, coming into the newspaper class room a good deal earlier than necessary.

Ms Dent looked up. "Yes Logan? Can I help you with something?"

He came up towards her and smiled shyly. Sometimes, it really paid off to have actors as parents. "Well yeah, I guess so. I had an idea for an article, actually a little series. There's this group on school? The FABL?"

"For A Better Life, yes I know. Why?" Ms Dent nodded.

"I've heard that they've got this project down in the Bedlams, where they want to build a few of those cheap houses for bums. Apparently, it's some sort of a competition with a similar group at Pen High. The group that gets more and better houses done within four weeks will get a bonus and the possibility to carry the project to other cities," Logan explained. "Now, I thought it would be perhaps interesting to follow the project, doing a little feature, perhaps adding an interview with a different member each week?"

Ms Dent didn't have to think long about his idea. "Yeah, that's a good idea." She looked a little skeptically at him. "I'm actually surprised you came up with that."

Logan looked down and shrugged. "Yeah well, I helped out in a few shelter homes lately and got wind of it. Thought it really was a good idea, good for those people there," he said, spreading his hands. "And if we bring it in the paper, we'll perhaps find a parent here or there willing to give a little to the good cause, you know?"

"Hmm, perhaps…" Ms Dent said, still sounding not totally convinced. He couldn't blame her. Logan wasn't especially famous for his social streak and Ms Dent may be new, but she sure had already picked up on that. Truth was that he didn't care much about that project. But it would guarantee him a perfect opportunity to get Veronica to have to work with him on the article, and that for a few weeks. If Ms Dent played along of course.

"Listen, I thought it would be more impressive if we could get the article out along with some photos. About the progress of the houses, the way the homeless live now so the difference it will make for those poor people gets even more obvious and then of course the people working on it. Drives the point home, don't you think so?" Logan asked casually.

Ms Dent gave a slow nod, just as the first few other pupils started to come in as well. "I'll think about it," she promised and turned to greet the new arrivals.

Logan nodded with a smile and went over to one of the computers. He was pretty certain that Ms Dent would go along with the story – and the idea to have it documented with photos. Ms Dent was too much of a 'making the world better' type to let such an opportunity to give support to a good cause pass. And lately, she had let Veronica cover almost all the photos, definitely those for the bigger or more important articles.

Veronica had many faults. But she could make one hell of a picture.

He saw Veronica entering the room, heading directly to one of the secluded boots, her head down. For a moment, he watched her closely, trying to see how she was doing, but he wasn't too surprised that she didn't let anything show. With the old Veronica, you knew almost all the times what she thought or felt. With the new one though… there were flickers of emotions that he sometimes recognized because of their old friendship, but most of the time he had no idea what was going on in that head of hers and now was one of it. He saw her taking something out of her bag and stare at it and he wondered if it was the picture from her locker. Ms Dent approached her and from the way she hastily pushed whatever it was back into her bag, he was almost sure that his suspicion was right.

"What are you staring at?"

Startled, Logan turned his head to see his best friend looking curiously at him. "Hmmm?"

Duncan shook his head. "What's the matter with you today? Ever since lunch you're acting kind of – weird." A shadow passed over his face. "Oh, is it because of that crazy chick? Don't worry, I don't think anyone will believe her anything anymore, let alone that you… well." Duncan looked over to Veronica and smiled in something that looked almost like pride. "Veronica sure has taken care of that."

Logan stared at the smile on his best friend's face for a second. It's been a while since he had seen him smile like that. Actually, it probably was since before Duncan and Veronica had broken off things with each other that Logan had seen that smile. "Yeah…" he said slowly. "You know… I met her earlier on and I kind of thanked her for it," he said quietly, remembering only too well his last conversation with Duncan.

Duncan gave him a surprised look, then smiled a little. "I knew you would, eventually. But I admit I'm a bit surprised it took you so little time."

"Yeah well, I wanted it over with," Logan told him with a shrug and glanced at him. Finally, he took a deep breath. "Listen, DK… Perhaps… I mean, if you want to… you could…"

All of a sudden, Duncan's face closed off. "No, I can't," he said brusquely and turned away.

'Way to go, Logan,' Logan thought with a sigh. He didn't get his best friend. It was obvious that Duncan was still very hung up on Veronica. And yeah, Logan was no fan at all of Duncan getting back together with Veronica Mars, and he could imagine that Jake and Celeste, especially Celeste, would be anything else than be pleased about it either.

Still…

If Veronica could make Duncan smile like he had only a minute before, even after everything that had happened, then perhaps he should rethink his position on that point. After all, hadn't he just set a plan into action to get to spend some time with her himself again? True, out of a very different reason. But there had been that thought of maybe letting her in again as well.

A shadow fell over him and he looked up – right into a not too pleased face of one Veronica Mars. He raised an eyebrow. "Got something you want?" he asked with a smirk.

She frowned. "Ms Dent just informed me I'm supposed to work with you on a feature on FABL's newest pet project," she told him tensely.

Logan let his eyes widen. "And here I begged her to not get me stuck with you," he said with a big sigh.

"What are you playing at, Logan?" Veronica wanted to know with narrowed eyes. "Ms Dent said the story had been your idea. I've heard you laugh and make jokes about FABL more times than I can count. You never in your life cared about homeless people, as your latest brilliant entertainment idea showed more than clearly, I think," she said, referring to the bum fights he had organized a while before. "So come on, Logan, tell me, what are you really after?"

Now it was Logan's turn to narrow his eyes. That girl… She really had a habit to find just the right words to make him angry. He stood up and looked down into her eyes. "Did it ever occur to you that people may change their opinion? Or change completely? Huh?" he asked and shook his head. "Something _you_ of all people should know best," he told her and looked her up and down pointedly.

He could see her tense and their eyes held for a long moment. Finally, she shook her head. "Perhaps, Logan. But I know something else as well: No one changes without a reason. And if _you'_re suddenly a Good Samaritan, then I'm a lost princess and heir to a throne of a little but rich kingdom in Africa."

There was coming the sound of someone clearing his throat from the door and Veronica broke their eye contact to look over. She gave a short nod and looked shortly back to Logan. Saying nothing else though she turned away. With a frown, Logan looked over to the door himself. Fennel. Well, he would have to wait for a moment longer.

"You seem to have forgotten something: We're supposed to work on that article," he said, his voice quiet.

She stopped and looked back at him. "Oh, but the way I understood it, you're taking care of the interviews and I'll take care of the pictures. Don't worry, you'll have them in time," she told him sweetly.

Logan grinned. "Oh no, you're not getting off so easily. As unfortunate as it might be, you're not getting around from actually doing something. This is my article and I'm not trusting you so easily." When she opened her mouth in protest, his grin deepened. "Of course we can always ask Ms Dent what she'll think about your participation."

The glare she sent his way told Logan that he had won this round – and he had no problem to show that knowledge with a knowing smirk.

"Fine," she said through clenched teeth. "What do you suggest?"

"I think best place to start is driving down to the site and take a look around, taking a few first pictures, talking to the folks," he suggested.

"Okay, but not today, I can't," Veronica answered with a nod. "Meet me at my car tomorrow after school."

Logan raised an eyebrow. Had she just given him an order? He didn't think so. "Whoa, whoa, whoa… if you think I'm getting into that cereal box car of yours then you're seriously deluded. You meet me at my car."

Veronica's eyes narrowed, but she smiled. "Well, and if you think I'll be caught driving in that big monstrous canary of yours then Rosie's brother must have hit you harder than I thought."

For a moment, they stood there, caught in another staring match.

"Logan? Veronica? Everything all right?"

They both looked up startled to see Ms Dent standing beside them, giving them a weird look.

Veronica smiled. "Everything's peachy fine. We're just settling some things, Ms Dent. But now I need to go take those pictures of the basketball team you wanted or practice will be over and then: no pictures."

Ms Dent nodded and moved on to another pupil. Veronica looked back at Logan. "Okay. Tomorrow. You'll drive, I'll drive, problem solved."

At first, Logan wanted to protest. This wasn't what he had had in mind - he had had in mind to grill her a little while driving out to the site. Then though he thought better of it. It probably was really for the best. After all, he wasn't sure if he got through the short drive without killing that girl. So he simply gave a nod and turned away to sit down again while Veronica headed out of the room where she met Fennel and then vanished.

"What was all that about?"

Logan looked over to Duncan who stared at him with a frown between his eyes. Then he glared over to the door through which Veronica had disappeared. "Nothing. Nothing at all," he told his friend and turned his head back to stare at the screen in front of him.

Damn that girl!

Why had she always to be so… stubborn and pigheaded? Why was he even bothering with her?

The memory of a bloody, dead Veronica swam into his mind and he sighed.

Right.

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Okay. His plan wasn't working, obviously. Since Veronica and he had gotten to the build side they had hardly looked at each other, let alone talked with each other. Or rather said, Veronica had avoided to do either of those things and simply had walked off to take some pictures while Logan was stuck doing the interviews.

Boring interviews. Boy, he'd have a lot of work to do to get this halfway interesting. Well, at least so that the readers wouldn't yawn constantly.

Out of the corners of his eyes he could see Veronica walking back towards her car. Quickly, he finished up and made his excuses to the little would-be-world-safer he was interviewing at the moment and then hurried over to Veronica.

"What do you think you're doing, Mars?" he asked with a frown.

She raised an eyebrow. "Going home?"

"And let me do all the work? I don't think so," Logan said, shaking his head.

Veronica sighed. "As you said yourself: you're doing the interviews, I'm taking the pictures. I took my shots. If you're too slow to be quickly done with your interviews, not my problem. Now I suggest you step back, unless you want a really flat foot."

Grinding his teeth, Logan instead stepped even closer to her car and leant down into her face. "And I suggest you turn off the motor and wait until I'm done," he told her.

One of her eyebrows rose. "Now why would I do that, I ask myself?" she replied sarcastically. "It's not like I'll need to wait for a ride." She patted her steering wheel. "Got one of my own," she said, smiling affectionately.

Logan gave her a deriding smile. "I'm not sure what's more sad: you calling this poor thing a ride or your pitiful tries to be funny."

"Oh come on, that was sarcasm pure," Veronica gave back, her smile deepening.

"Babe, you wouldn't know sarcasm if it bits you in your tiny ass," Logan answered, his smile widening also. Needless to say that both their smiles didn't promise anything good.

"Whew thank you! What girl doesn't like to hear her ass is tiny," Veronica replied on the spot. "Honeybuns."

"You think you're really cute, don't you, Mars?" Logan asked, raising an eyebrow and he shook his head. "Funny. But what I'm trying to say is that you can't go off because we're not finished yet. We still need the opposite site," he informed her.

"Opposite side?" she repeated with a frown.

"Yeah, haven't you listened? Veronica, Veronica, I'm fairly disappointed. And here I thought you're the ever attentive good little teacher's pet," he said, shaking his head, but still smiling. After all, they both knew that not so very long ago, she had been just that. "We're supposed to get the other side as well. Show how those unfortunate homeless people live, in the cold, in the dirt, with no roof to spare them from the rain, no heater to give them a little warmth, no stow to cook themselves even a bowl of shallow soup…" He gave a dramatic sigh. "So the people see just how important and meaningful this very ambitious project is."

For a moment, Veronica stared at him. Then, she laughed. "Wow Logan, got that from one of your father's movies? Or did you actually come up with that speech yourself?"

Logan grinned and shrugged. "This comes straight from my bleeding heart," he replied, putting a hand onto his heart.

"Yeah right," Veronica remarked dryly, but then narrowed her eyes. "You're serious, aren't you? You, Logan Echolls, holder of several platinum and an American Express Black Card, you, organizer of Neptune's latest secret fight scene, bum fights not to forget, you want to go down to the slums, the dark corners of Neptune, the shelters under the bridges, to go interview those poor bastards, take away their last privacy?" She shook her head. "Forget it Logan, first, you can be happy if they won't run you off and second, they're never going to tell you anything. Believe it or not, even they have enough self respect for that."

"You musta know it after all, don't you, Ronnie? I mean, where are you living again, nowadays, huh?" Logan answered bitingly. Somehow, her words had made him angry. He wasn't sure why, but they did. Okay, yeah, he had organized those bum fights, admittedly not one of his finest moments. But he hadn't forced them to take the money and agree to participate. They could deny the offer, just like that vet at the gas station had. She had no right to come and judge him. Especially not her. After all, he had always been loyal to his friends. That's more than she could say of herself.

Her eyes chilled. "Tell me one thing, Logan: With what do you justify that you're such a jackass? Spoiled rich boy that doesn't get enough attention from his parents and big sis? The typical sad story about the neglected, overseen and never acknowledged son of movie stars, damned to always live in the shadow of his father?"

If he had thought he was angry before, he had been wrong. But now, he was angry. Very angry. Furious. She knew _nothing_ about him or his life! "Tell me Veronica, just when did you turn into such a bitch? Was it when Daddy dearest tried to get the man he always had disliked for being so successful where you're dad always stayed and will always stay a loser into jail for murdering his own daughter? Or was it when, out of the shadow of Lilly, you finally turned to be how you always were, a faulty, lying, backstabbing bitch!" he asked, glaring daggers at her.

She paled a little. "No. It was when I learned just how wrong I was about the people I thought I knew. When I realized that those who I once called friends," she glared back at him pointedly, "really weren't my friends anymore, but my enemies I couldn't trust anymore."

With that, she floored the gas and drove off.

Logan stared after her, his hands turning to fists. What the hell had he been thinking to even think for a second to let that bitch in again!

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A day passed and Logan didn't see a glimpse of the annoying tiny blond one. Which was good, because he was still way too angry to even think about that bitch without his blood starting to boil again. On the second day he did see her again, from the far, and her sight alone didn't make him want to put his fist through the next wall so he guessed that at least some of his anger had vaporized. Yet another day, and the sight of her arriving in the parking lot left him rather cool so he thought that they probably could be in the same room again without killing each other. Just in time as at this day, they had newspaper class together again.

The thing that did puzzle him though was the fact that Veronica was talking with Casey Gant – and they looked fairly cozy together. He frowned. Veronica and Casey never had much in common with each other. He always had had the impression that Veronica didn't like Gant much. Then again, Casey Gant may have been a 09er but he and Logan and his friends seldom did things together so they could hardly be called friends. And now they didn't even socialize together anymore as Casey had turned his back to his family, his 09-status, sold his Porsche and joined some hippie commune that had forgotten that the sixties were long past.

Logan shook his head. Idiot.

Thinking of it though, Logan asked himself if that was perhaps why Veronica Mars was suddenly talking with Casey Gant. He had heard rumors that his parents wanted to try to get Casey out of the hands of the 'dangerous' cult Casey had joined. If they had gone through with that plan – wouldn't they have contacted a PI? There weren't that many PI's in Neptune. It was likely that the Gants would have chosen Keith Mars, after all, up to his ridiculous hunt of Jake Kane, he had been a very good sheriff and the people had respected him. So if they had hired Veronica's father, wasn't it likely that she'd snoop around now, seeing as Casey's a classmate of hers?

Yeah, that would be just like her.

He watched as Casey hugged Veronica and then walked off, Veronica staring after him and Logan frowned again. That hug though hadn't looked purely business like. Quite the contrary actually.

Somehow, that thought didn't sit too well with Logan.

Veronica was still staring into the direction Gant had vanished into, apparently lost in her thoughts. Hesitating a moment, Logan changed direction and headed over to her instead toward the school building. It was probably a bad idea – but he just couldn't pass the opportunity to take a few shots at Veronica. "Got yourself a new boyfriend?" he asked casually, coming to a stop beside her.

Startled, she turned her head to look at him. Her eyes narrowed. "Why? Jealous?"

Logan rolled his eyes. "Please. No… you know, I just don't seize to notice that once again, you picked yourself a 09er." He shook his head. "If I didn't know it better, I'd say you're actually really a gold digger."

"Oh well, you know me," Veronica said in a dangerously sweet tone. "Socializing with you bunch just spoiled me so much that I simply can't live without the luxury anymore. After all, there's nothing better than eating from golden plates and commandeering other people around to be at my beck and call."

"True, true," Logan agreed, with less sarcasm than her though. "But you know what they say: You can never hide from where you're coming from. And if you bath in champagne you'll never leave the stench of the slums you were born in."

Veronica shook her head. "Guess I'll have to cancel that truckload of champagne then…" She shouldered her bag and lost some of the sarcasm. "You know what the sad thing is? I'm not sure how much of that crap out of your mouth is crap – and how much is real. Whatever it is… it just shows again just what a jackass you are. See you – not." She started to walk away.

For the moment, Logan was unsure what to say. Not because of her words, he wouldn't have expected any less from her. But… was he imagining it or was there a trace of real sadness in her voice? He bit his lips. That shouldn't mean anything to him… but…

"Veronica," he called after her before he really realized what he was doing.

Impatiently, she turned back to him. "What? Got another delightful thing to say?"

His eyes met hers and he hesitated. Oh, what the hell… "Most of it is crap," he told her quietly.

He had no idea what he was doing. This wasn't how they worked anymore. He didn't care what Veronica thought of him, it shouldn't… but still, he didn't want her to believe him to be that a jackass.

Her eyes widened in surprise, making the green of her eyes stand out even more starkly. Then though she nodded slowly. "Good to know," she said as quietly and turned away from him again.

Logan looked at his feet. Her words had felt good… another thing that shouldn't be. Her words weren't supposed to hurt him – nor soothe him. They weren't friends anymore after all.

"_No. It was when I learned just how wrong I was about the people I thought I knew. When I realized that those who I once called friends really weren't my friends anymore, but my enemies I couldn't trust anymore."_

That was what she had said before roaring off from the build site. At first, those words hadn't meant anything… once his anger had cooled down a bit, those same words had struck him. He didn't get it. _She_ had been the one to turn her back. _She _had been the one to choose her father's side – against them. But the way she had said that… it looked as if she blamed _him_ for their estrangement. Hell. What did she expect? That he'd simply ignore her betrayal? That he'd act as if she hadn't stab him in the back and that at a time when he would have needed her, more than ever before? He hadn't made any decisions. He had only acted upon her decisions, her mistakes.

Yet… somehow he got the feeling that Veronica wasn't really talking about their break-off after Lilly's death – but about something else. He didn't know why… he just knew that that was what his gut told him and usually, his gut wasn't so wrong.

_(Flashback)_

"_Great party Saturday, huh?" Logan asked Duncan, dropping down onto the bench beside his best friend._

_Duncan didn't look up and shrugged. "It was okay."_

"_Okay? DK, it had been a blast!" Logan protested._

_Once again, Duncan simply shrugged. _

_Logan stared at the impassive face of his best friend and sighed. And he had hoped that the GHB he had put into his friend's drink would have eased Duncan up a bit. Apparently, he had thought wrong. "Well… Shelley's parties usually are a blast. Speaking of Shelley, did you two hook up after all? You sure looked friendly there in the beginning," Logan asked with a leer, elbowing Duncan. _

_Duncan moved away from Logan's elbow and shrugged for the third time. "Nothing happened," he mumbled, his eyes still fixed on his plate._

_Disappointed, Logan shook his head. He was desperate for his friend to get back to himself, he missed the old Duncan almost as much as he missed Lilly. _

_Lilly…_

_Hurriedly, Logan pushed the pain at the thought of his dead girlfriend away. He couldn't afford to give in to the pain. Not here. He needed to concentrate about something else. Like…_

_His eyes hardened. Right. "Can you believe the nerve of that skunk? Showing up at the party like nothing had happened?" he asked in a hiss. Alone thinking about Veronica showing up at the party did make his blood boil again. And if that hadn't been bad enough, she had shown up dressed in white, looking like an angel, when in reality, she was nothing like an angel. Quite the contrary actually. "What the hell had she been thinking?"_

_Duncan stiffened and looked up, if only briefly. "Leave it alone, Logan," he said in a low, warning voice. _

_Incredulous, Logan stared at him. "Are you kidding me? Come on, I know the bitch is your ex, but really, you of all people…"_

_Shaking his head, Duncan got up. "I think you had enough fun with her on the party already. So leave her alone, Logan," he warned icily and marched off._

_Angry, Logan stared after him. He couldn't believe his best friend. After everything that had happened…_

_His thoughts came to a stop and he frowned. Hmm… On the other hand… hadn't Duncan brought Veronica home after the party? Could it be…? Had Duncan really been so stupid to let that deceiving little devil wave her web around him again? He hadn't thought it possible, but then, this was Veronica… and Duncan had had the GHB, so perhaps…_

_Fuck._

_Out of the corner of his eyes he saw a familiar figure walking by and, riding on his rage, he quickly jumped up and strolled over to block Veronica's way. "What the fuck did you do?" he demanded to know, his hands fisting. _

_Startled, Veronica looked up to stare at him out of wide, distant eyes._

_It was only then that Logan noticed something else. His anger momentarily forgotten, he stared at her hair. "What did you do?" he asked again, shocked this time. Gone was her long, beautiful hair. Instead, short, very short hair was now molding around her face that stood out stark and pale._

_Their eyes met and there was something in her eyes he couldn't name, but left him feeling – uneasy. Almost frightened. For perhaps a full minute, they just stared at each other, before her eyes cleared and yet something else entered her eyes, something he never had dreamed to see in her eyes, let alone directed at him, despite all the recent events. _

_Hate._

_But…Veronica Mars didn't hate. He hadn't thought her capable of hate. She was blue eyed innocence, always trying to see something good. But what was now in her eyes was unmistakable pure, naked hate. _

"_Why don't you just crawl back to the hell you've risen from, asshole?" she asked, her voice seemingly still the same, but at the same time so different, due to the hard edge it now carried – and the smoldering hate beneath it all. _

_Thus said, she strolled past Logan, him being too flabbergasted by this strange Veronica to come up with a remark and all he did was stare after her, confused._

_(End Flashback)_

Logan frowned at the memory. Back then, Logan's gut had initially warned him that there was something wrong with that, with her changing so much from one day to the other. But he had ignored it, still too angry abut her betrayal, too confused about the shock of meeting Veronica 2.0 and simply not ready to allow himself to ponder anything to do with one Veronica Mars. After his first surprise, Logan had quickly adjusted to the new Veronica, going after her with all the suppressed vengeance he had felt ever since she had stabbed him in the back. Before, he hadn't been able to go after her fully. Sure, he had lanced the shinning of her, had done everything to ostracize her out of his life. But a tiny part of him had held back, had felt guilty about what he was doing to someone who had been a good friend once.

With her looking so different from the old Veronica – and more importantly, _be_ so different from the old Veronica, it had been a lot easier to acknowledge her as the enemy now.

Enemy.

There was that word again. Yeah, they were enemies now. Or had been. He wasn't sure anymore. But… thinking of her words and that memory with hindsight now… Was that what she had meant? That day when they had become true enemies?

Or was it yet something else that she had hinted at. Perhaps something to do with whatever was going on with that picture she had received? About that thing she didn't want to talk about?

It was farfetched. Then again, with Veronica, you could never know…

Fact was that he didn't know one bit more about that picture and its background. No wonder. That girl was so what of pigheaded it was almost not believable! And he doubted that she would be more forecoming about it now than she had been before. Didn't mean though that he couldn't still try. Besides… wasn't the plan to get her to talk with him again enough so that she would spill why someone was planting a picture of Lilly's crime scene in her locker – along with a shot of Veronica draped just like Lilly's body?

Right.

He hurried after her. She hadn't come that far and soon, he fell into step with her. "So… what's the matter with you and Casey now?" he wanted to know, actually really wanting to hear that answer.

"What is it to you anyway?" Veronica though said, rolling her eyes.

"Just curious," Logan said, shrugging.

"Curiosity killed the cat," Veronica said dryly.

"I'm sure you know all about that, Mars," Logan replied not minder dryly. "But seriously, what's the deal between you and Casey? Cuddling up with him in that hippie commune of his?"

She glanced at him. "What do you know about the Moon Calf Collective?" she asked casually.

Logan laughed. "That's how they call themselves? Boy, I don't want to imagine the weed they had to smoke to come up with that shit name."

"Meaning you know nothing," Veronica stated.

Logan shrugged. "Sorry Mars, but I'm not exactly interested in selling my T-Bird and go play Hacky-Sack."

"I bet… though it would do your image good if you'd get rid of Big Yellow," Veronica said with a smirk.

"Dream on. Me and my T-Bird belong together," Logan told her.

"I'll start writing the wedding cards," Veronica replied and her eyes fixed on something behind Logan.

Following her eyes, he spotted Casey talking with Ms Hill. "Hey, as I bet you're more familiar with delicate rumors about your fellow 09ers… what do you know about Casey's parents?"

"The Gants?" Logan asked and thought quickly. Usually, he wouldn't give her the time of day, let alone any information she seeked, especially when it concerned other 09ers. But… this could be the perfect way to worm his way back into her good grades. Yeah. He smiled. "I may have heard a thing or two."

She sighed. "And what would it take for you to tell me those things?" she asked knowingly.

Logan's grin widened. "You see that this is quite some information… very worthy to you, it seems."

Her eyes narrowed. "We'll see about that," she said defiantly.

"Uh, uh, Ronnie… either you give me something in return or I'll know nothing at all," Logan warned her, not at all ignorant to the fact that this short banter of them once again sounded a lot like before, if perhaps a bit wittier. Nor couldn't he help but acknowledge that he enjoyed it – a lot. "Okay, so what about a little good old quit pro quo, Mars?" he proposed.

He took her silence and cautious look as a sign to continue. "I'll let you know what I know about the Gants…" he started dramatically and then dropped the act and grew serious. "…and you'll tell me about that picture from your locker," he finished quiet, but firm.

Immediately, her face and eyes lost all trace of humor and mock. Briefly, he could see her face naked of any mask and what he saw was fear, shock and disgust before a mask slipped over her face again. Wordlessly, she shook her head and picked up her steps to hurry away from him.

He didn't let her and stayed right beside her. "Come on… what can it hurt?" he asked.

She stopped and glared at him. "You're asking me what it can hurt? You? Now that's rich," she said and turned to continue her walk towards her locker.

With a sigh, Logan still stayed with her. "Look… I just want to know what's going on. I mean, something has to go on for some sick bastard to leave you such a message. Dragging Lilly into it." He stopped her with a hand on her arm and showed her the anger in his eyes. "That's not right. Lilly has suffered enough, has been exploited enough. I won't tolerate it to happen again." His hands fisted. "Damn it, Ronnie, she was my girlfriend. I loved her. I have a right to know what's going on!" he spat, but meaning every word, even when he had just told her a lot more than he had wanted.

And it seemed as if that just had done the trick as her eyes softened and very hesitantly, Veronica briefly touched his arm, giving him a comfort, he realized, that he had yearned for for over a year now.

Then though, her head sank down and she turned away from him. "I'm sorry Logan. But you wouldn't understand. Can't help. So just let it be."

They had reached her locker in the meantime and Logan was just about to protest when he saw her froze, all color leaving her face, as she stared into her locker. That could mean only one thing. Quickly, Logan stepped closer, but before he could do or say anything, Veronica turned on her heels and rushed into the girl's bathroom.

Worried, Logan took another step so he could see what message the bastard had left this time for her. What he saw made his stomach twist painfully into knots. Disgusted, he slammed her locker shut and went after Veronica. He wasn't surprised when he heard her retching in one of the stalls. The new message had left him feeling slightly sick as well after all. Taking a deep breath, Logan barricaded the door and waited.

Finally, Veronica came out of the boot to go over to the sink to rinse her mouth. The sight of him leaning against the door stopped her dead in her tracks though.

"I don't care what you think or believe, Ronnie," Logan said quietly. "But I want to hear what is going on, now, and I won't leave this room before you tell me, Veronica."

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TBC!

_(Author's note: I'm sorry this took so long. But I hope this chapter made up a bit for it. Well, you got your answers about what had been in the locker. At least the other time, hehe (evil grin). Did I mention that I love to write cliffhangers? Anyway, thanks for all the people that nicked me for a new chapter. I like to be reminded of a reason to write. On another note, I've been in a three week holiday break without any internet connection. But I had my notebook with me and time to write a little, so this is the first chapters of four stories I managed to update with another chapter. I just need to proof read them all. Hope this news makes up for the long silence as well. And of course I hope you enjoyed this chapter here!)_


	5. 4 Talking

**Chapter 4: Talking**

For a long moment, Veronica just stared at him. Finally, she let out a deep sigh and shook her head. Instead of saying something or rather starting to protest again like Logan had expected her to do she just continued her way over to the sink and bowed down to wash her face, rinse her mouth.

A frown growing between his eyes, Logan narrowed his eyes. "Veronica," he reminded her emphatically.

Still no reaction from her.

"Damn it Ronnie, I mean it!" Logan hissed, annoyed. "You will tell me what is going on here, now!"

Finally, she raised her head and their eyes met via the mirror. "Why?"

Her soft question threw Logan. Why? What did she mean, why? He'd say the why was pretty obvious. But okay, if she wanted to hear the obvious, so be it. "What do you think, Veronica? First, someone leaves you a crimes scene picture from Lilly in your locker with one of you right beside it? And now someone put an ashtray with blood smeared on it into your locker? And you ask why I want to know what's going on?"

But she shook her head. "If you've done one thing this past year, then it was to make crystal clear that you don't care anymore about me or what is going on in my life, unless you can mock me about it, drag it through the dirt. You hate me. But now you want to know what's going on again, all of a sudden? Excuse me, Logan, if I'm not ready to jump into the air with joy about your newest interest in me."

Damn.

Damn, damn, damn.

Of course she had to make it hard. Typical her. And he had no doubt at all that if he didn't give her an honest answer right now, he'd never learn why some asshole left her such sick presents. But entrusting her with the truth was a very, very dangerous thing. Did he really need to know about these presents so badly?

"I already told you: I won't let someone use Lilly like that, exploit her like that," he said after a moment, avoiding giving her a direct answer.

Her eyes dropped down and Logan felt the loss of their eye contact almost physically. Hell, he almost felt guilty.

"So this is just about Lilly," Veronica said tonelessly.

His frown deepening, Logan looked helplessly at her back. Damn her! She just couldn't let it rest, could she? He should just get out of there, forget about it.

But he couldn't. Wouldn't.

So, he paid the price.

"No."

Her head shot up again, their eyes reestablishing their contact.

"It's not just about Lilly." He took a very, _very_ deep breath. "Whatever may go on between you and me – I had to realize that I'm not ready to loose someone else in my life and that includes you." He shook his head. "Don't ask me why, it hassles the hell out of me as well. But that's how it is and I guess you and I just have to deal with it." He pointed out to the door. "Those little 'presents' you keep receiving: It's not hard to tell _what_ message they are supposed to deliver. Someone's threatening your life. Using Lilly to deliver the message. And I want to know why. So we can stop it."

Once again she just stared at him, but by the wideness of her eyes, he was pretty sure that this time, Veronica wasn't just stubborn but honestly rendered speechless by his admittance. And he had yet another one for her. After all, if he was already bearing his soul, he could as well go on with it.

"Besides… I don't hate you Ronnie," Logan said very quietly. Then he sighed. "I don't trust you anymore. I still can't understand how you could betray Duncan, the Kanes and me so much. I'm still angry that apparently, our friendship, all those years, had meant nothing to you for you betraying it like you did." He gulped, only too aware of how bitter his voice sounded. How had this turned out to be him talking instead of her? "And it fucking hurts that at the time I would have needed you most, you turned your back on me and I'm not sure if I can ever forgive you for that." His voice trembled, but he forced himself to not look away from her still widening eyes. "But I don't hate you. I thought I did, but this thing," he waved at the door again,"…taught me otherwise. And I don't want to loose you like I lost Lilly," he finally finished, resigned.

For a very long time, neither of them said something. Veronica actually gaped at him in a way he usually would have found very funny. Now though he was just too drained to muster up even a smile. Besides, for that this was too heavy and serious anyway. And he had definitely said more than enough.

Eventually, Veronica managed to close her mouth and turned around to look at him directly with a frown. "Excuse me, but _I_ turned my back on you?"

Her voice lacked the heat. She just sounded honestly puzzled. But why would she be puzzled?

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but the way I remember it I went to school one day and I was being shunned by the 09ers, soon followed by the rest of the school thanks to you and your newest hobby of leaking rumors about me," she said and this time, her voice didn't lack heat. "One day I was your friend, the next you hated me, wouldn't look twice at me and only speak to me to openly hurt and humiliate me. But _I'_m the one who destroyed our friendship and the years spent together?" She snorted. "Great, thanks to let me know."

"Come on, Veronica, what did you expect? That you can just go and betray me like you did and I just would pat you on the head and do nothing?" Logan asked back as heatedly. What the hell did she talk about? She couldn't honestly believe that he had started to end their friendship? "You betrayed me, us! Have you any idea how much that hurt? Especially at that time when the loss of Lilly was horrible enough?"

"Yeah, I think I have an idea, because get that, I've lost her too. I would have needed you as well, someone to keep me sane," Veronica replied bitterly. "But you had decided that I'm the enemy now, so I was alone, Logan. Completely and utterly left alone to deal with my best friend's murder." Her hands gripped the rim of the counter so tightly, that Logan could see her knuckles standing out stark white. "And how did I betray you, Logan? What did I do that was so horrible?"

Flabbergasted, he just stared at her. She knew what she had done and yet she dared to ask that?

"Did I perhaps sell my friendship with Lilly to the papers, like Shelley and Maddison have done it? No, I didn't and boy, we both know that I could have talked a lot and would have made a great deal of money for that," Veronica pointed out, her eyes fixed on Logan, glaring. "Let's see, what else could I have done? Oh, have one: Did I perhaps start to talk badly about Lilly after her death, like some have done it, even daring to mention that it's sad what had happened to her, but honestly, she did invite it a little to happen, didn't she? No. Did I _ever_ exploit my friendship with the Kanes or with you the way most non-09ers would do it? No. Did I ever speak badly about you to others? No. Haven't I in fact always stood behind you when someone was going after you, speaking badly of you? Wasn't I the one who had told you about Lilly's death so you wouldn't learn it through the news? Wasn't I the one who held you while you cried for her? And who you comforted when I needed to cry?" Her voice died down to a whisper. "What Logan? Tell me: _what_ did I do to deserve what you've done to me?"

No. This just couldn't be true. She _had_ to know just how she had betrayed him!

"You accused Jake Kane to have murdered his own daughter, making him and Duncan and Celeste go through an even bigger hell than they were already going through and you honestly ask me what you have done?" he asked incredulous.

She breathed deeply. "That was my father, not me, Logan."

"Exactly! Your dad! And you could have told him to stop, to do his job and find Lilly's killer instead of his ridiculous pursuit of Jake, but you did nothing, didn't you?" He shook his head. "No, you just let him go on with it. Hell, you even stood behind him for the whole time!"

"That's it? That is all I've done? Logan, what the hell was I supposed to do? He's my dad!" Obviously upset, Veronica put her hands to her hair, muzzling it up in frustration. Then, her hands sank down and she looked back at Logan. "I know you and your dad don't have the best of relationships, Logan, but not everyone hates his dad or doesn't have respect of how he's making his living. I love my dad. He's the only one I always had been able to count on, my whole life. Can you really, honestly believe that I wouldn't stand with him?"

Logan didn't answer. For that he was too confused. Hadn't Duncan asked him nearly the same thing only a few weeks ago? And was she right? Had he really been so blinded by his relationship with his father and the loss of Lilly, the fury about her murder, that he had expected the impossible? It was true after all that Veronica and her dad had been pretty close, a deep bond of love bonding father and daughter. Something that was indeed foreign to him. But still…

"And do you really believe I never told my dad that I can't believe that Jake had done it? I did! Asked him to lay off Jake and perhaps try to find someone else? I did! But you know, just because my dad loves me doesn't mean that he has to listen to me." Very slowly, Veronica took a step forward, towards Logan. "He's – was the sheriff, Logan. And believe it or not, he was a damn good cop, with years of experience. He _did_ his job. He tried to find Lilly's killer, even if it got a bit uncomfortable for the powerful and riches. But just because of that he was such a good cop. Maybe he had been wrong about Jake, but nonetheless, he did his job. Even if I had wanted to, I couldn't have changed his mind."

Logan looked away, his fingers flexing. He didn't want to listen to Veronica's reason… but he couldn't deny that there was a little reason in it.

"Look…" Veronica sighed. "I get that the Kanes, Duncan, didn't want anything to do with me anymore with my dad interrogating Jake, suspecting him. I also get that you stood with them. Duncan is your best friend. Lilly was your girlfriend. The Kanes were always like a second family to you, their household your second home. Perhaps even more of a home than your own. So yeah, I see why you and Duncan didn't want to see me anymore. It still hurts but I can understand. But…"

She didn't continue and slowly, Logan looked back to her, telling her silently to say whatever she wanted to say. Somehow, they had ended up in having a major talk out session so she could as well say it all.

After another moment of hesitation, Veronica finally relented and finished what she had to say. "Why like that, Logan? Why go after me with such viciousness? Why spreading all those lies? Why using your knowledge about me to hurt me in every way you could? Why all this hate? It hadn't been necessary. You didn't want to be my friend again? Fine. But it wasn't necessary to make it to such a war like you did it."

The accusation burned in her eyes. But also the pain. And he guessed that his eyes probably mirrored hers pretty much right then. He swallowed. She wanted the truth? Okay. The truth it was. "Because you betrayed me Veronica." He frowned, unsure if he still believed that. "Or at least so I thought. And that was the worst thing you could have done to me in my book, Veronica. I trusted you. I counted on you. I relied on you. And there are only very few people like that in my life. Hell, not even Lilly was in that small circle, not as completely as you have been. You and Duncan, and that was it. But then you had the choice between me and your dad, and you chose your dad, let me down. Suddenly, I not only had lost Lilly, but also you, the one I thought I would always be able to rely on. I don't trust easily, Ronnie. I learned better than to do that. So when you made me loose my trust into you, I was blind with rage. I needed you to pay. I needed you to hurt as much as you hurt me. And I needed you out of my life, completely, because I don't like to be confronted with the biggest mistake of my life constantly."

Veronica stared at him, paler than she had been before. Then, after a long stretch of silence, she slowly nodded. "So I paid."

Logan nodded.

"You do know that _you_ made me make that choice? You, who had decided that it's either you or my dad and therefore really giving me no choice at all?" she asked after another moment.

Frowning, Logan thought about that for a moment. Finally, he nodded, tightly. That was probably how she would look at it. Hell, perhaps it had been like that – he wasn't sure anymore. Back then everything had been so confusing, such a haze and the whirlwind of emotions he had succumbed to had been bottomless. But she better didn't expect an apology. He wasn't apologizing. He had done what he had thought was right. What had needed to be done. Perhaps, he had been wrong in a few things. Perhaps. But he still didn't regret it and so wasn't going to apologize for any of his choices. And he was pretty sure that Veronica was pretty much of the same opinion as he was.

After all, this, whatever this was, wasn't about apologizing. It was just about explaining some things, actions, talking it out.

To find out if either of them dared to even think about rekindle their friendship at least a little.

And he didn't know how Veronica stood to that matter, but for him, the verdict was still out there.

"So tell me one thing, Logan: Did I pay enough now?"

Veronica's question ripped him out of his musings and he focused onto the tiny blond one in front of him.

Did she pay enough?

He remembered how she had prevented the PCHers to go after him for having a little chat with Chardo. The silent truce they had made during homecoming season, at least for the time being, for making sure that Lilly would receive a tribute worthy of her. And he remembered the confidence with which she had told off Rosie, had defended him, so absolutely certain of his innocence.

Logan exhaled and looked at Veronica, really looked at her. Saw the girl that had used to be his friend. Saw the girl that had used to be his enemy. The girl, that evoked so conflicted feelings in him, confused and surprised him so much.

And he remembered why he had come in here to talk to her in the first place. His initiate fear upon seeing the ashtray and realizing its meaning – its threat. Remembered how the thought of loosing Veronica as well had sickened him, haunted him.

"Yeah," he said so quietly that he wasn't sure if Veronica had heard him at all.

But her eyes searched his to find an affirmation of his final answer there and, apparently having found what she had searched for, she turned back around to face the mirror.

"Good," she said as quietly.

Slowly, Logan nodded. Yeah, it was good. He was tired of their war anyway. And he was well aware that with giving her this particular answer, he had more or less made the promise to stop his anti-Veronica-campaign. No more rumors, no more pranks, no more dibs against her – at least not of the vicious kind. Because damn it, he enjoyed sparring verbally with her and something told him that she liked the witty exchange they had going on beside their nasty war as well.

He wasn't sure where that left them. They sure weren't friends again. Neither of them was ready for that. But they weren't enemies anymore either. What was between friend and enemy? Acquaintances? Hardly. For that they knew each other definitely too well. But how else could they be described then?

Did it matter?

No.

What did matter though was to finally get the answers he was seeking for when he had followed Veronica in here and had barricaded the door behind him.

"So Ronnie… What is going on here?"

This time, the answer came immediately. "I don't know."

Logan narrowed his eyes to slits. If she thought she would get off that easily, after everything, then she was wrong. "Veronica," he warned.

Once again, their eyes met via the mirror. "No Logan. I don't know why I get these oh so charming presents. Apart of the obvious of course, and that you already know. Nor have I any idea who it is that sends me these messages."

He frowned. That wasn't what he had expected. "Come on Veronica, one of your cases…"

"My cases hardly are of the kind that one seems it fit to threaten me like that. And…" Her voice trailed off.

"And what?" he asked sharply.

She just glanced at him over her shoulder before looking down into the sink.

For a moment, Logan watched her with narrowed eyes, his thoughts racing. Crime scene picture of Lilly. Now a bloody ashtray, supposedly the murder weapon in her case. Veronica Mars, daughter of the only man who believed that the man rotting away in prison was innocent.

_Maybe he had been wrong about Jake, but nonetheless, he did his job._

Maybe. Not that her dad _had_ been wrong, but _maybe_ he had been wrong.

He groaned. "God, Veronica, please tell me it isn't what I think it is."

She looked up, her eyes searching his in the mirror. But she didn't answer. She didn't need to.

Logan laughed humorlessly. "Of course. You're sniffling around in Lilly's case, don't you?" He shook his head. "I should have thought earlier about that. How could I have forgotten that you're a Mars after all?" His eyes bored into hers. "Hasn't Lilly suffered enough? Can't you just let her rest finally?"

"She doesn't let me," Veronica said so quietly that he didn't thought she had really said that to him but more to herself. Then she turned to face him again. "I loved Lilly."

"You're not the only one!" Logan snapped, irritated that she dared to say that as if she had been indeed the only one.

"No, I know that," Veronica though calmed him down softly. "But I still seem to be the only one who wants justice for her."

"Lilly's killer is in prison!" Logan insisted angrily, stepping forward to come to a stop right in front of her. "He's waiting for his execution and you can be sure that I'll be there to not miss it."

"Abel Koontz did _not_ kill Lilly," Veronica though said very clearly, her eyes never leaving his.

Exasperated, Logan threw his arms into the air. "Jeez, do you even listen to yourself? As the great P.I. you want to be you of all people should know that the evidence…"

"Is planted and meaningless!" Veronica interrupted him.

"He _confessed _for God's sake!" Logan yelled.

Breathing deeply, Veronica shook her head and broke their eye contact. "I knew this was a bad idea. I told you that you don't want to hear it. But no, you had to go be stubborn, as usual, not hearing or accepting a simple no. Why did you even bother with it Logan when you weren't going to listen anyway?" she ranted as she stormed past him.

"Perhaps because I'm just tired to hear the Mars' hallucinations about Lilly's death being some sort of conspiracy!" Logan retorted, turning after her. "Really, Veronica, you're obsessed! You're worse than a pit-bull terrier.

Veronica swiveled around. "Pretend just for a moment that you don't know who had killed Lilly. That the only thing you _do_ know it that he's still out there, free and probably even smug because no one is suspecting him, simply because everyone thinks the man who had done it is already in jail. And then tell me again that I'm obsessing!"

"But Lilly's killer _is_ in jail!" Logan pointed out.

Again, Veronica's face closed off. And something in her eyes died, grew cold. In a heartbeat, she was out the door.

Sighing deeply, Logan slumped against the counter. When had Veronica turned to be so utterly and completely exhausting? Not to mention pigheaded. And obsessed.

The door flew open again and looking up in alarm, Logan saw Veronica stomping up to him with three big strides, every muscle of her tiny body seeming to hum with anger. Her eyes were blazing as she smashed a folded paper against his chest. "Here. Take a real good look at this."

She backed away and automatically, Logan grabbed for the paper before it slipped down to the floor.

In the meantime, Veronica had gone back to the door. "Come find me if you're ready to listen," she told him with a clenched jaw and slammed the door shut after her.

Frowning, Logan stared at the door.

Not to forget that obviously, she had gone crazy in the year since their friendship had ended.

Slowly, he looked down at the paper in his hand. With a sigh, he started to unfold it. It took a moment for him to recognize it as what it was.

A speeding ticket. From Lilly.

Why on Earth was Veronica walking around with one of Lilly's speeding tickets in her pocket?

His eyes fell onto the date of the ticket and his stomach turned slightly.

October third.

The day Lilly had been killed.

What kind of a sick…

His eyes fell onto the time.

6:02 pm.

He did a double take. Still 6:02 pm. Looked at the picture. It was definitely Lilly, no doubt about that. Even this bad shot of her showed how vibrant she had been, so full of life.

6:02 pm.

But… That was impossible. Lilly had supposedly died at 4:15 pm. It must be a mistake. It was the only explanation.

His eyes glanced at the picture again. Skimmed the place where the radar trap had gotten her. And frowned. They had said that Lilly had come home from pep squat and surprised Koontz breaking into the place. But the place where that picture had been taken wasn't even close to where the girls had washed the cars of the team. Not to mention that by 6 pm her squat class had long been over and she was still a good five minutes away from home.

No.

No, no, no, no, no…

This just couldn't be true.

Yet, here he held something in his hands that pretty much proved that it had to be true.

Worse.

It proved that the Mars family was right to suspect that something was a little foul with Abel Koontz's arrest and confession of the murder of Lilly Kane.

Okay, it didn't prove that he hadn't done it… but it sure as hell let come up serious doubts about his guilt.

His breath quickened as Logan took all that in.

Could it…

Could it be that Veronica was right? That Lilly's murderer was still out there, walking around, laughing at everyone's stupidity in believing that Koontz had killed Lilly Kane?

Not _everyone_.

Blind rage surged through his veins at the same time a deadly cold fear gripped his insides.

And was the same asshole now going after Veronica?

His heart hammering in his throat, Logan's head snapped up as his hands fisted, crumpling the ticket in his hand.

Veronica. He needed to find Veronica. Needed to know what this meant. Needed to know what else she knew about Lilly's murder and Abel Koontz. Needed to know that she was okay.

In a flash, he pushed himself away from the counter and already, he was out of the door of the girl's bathroom, scanning the hallways. Where was she? Did she go to class? Which class? Damn, it had been really a lot more practical when he had known her schedule by heart. What time was it anyway? And how long had they been in the bathroom, talking it out? There were still pupils in the hallways so he guessed classes hadn't started yet. A quick glance to his watch told him that yep, they still had four minutes until then.

Growling, he turned to go over to her locker, not knowing what else to do. He didn't come far as suddenly, Logan found himself face to face with Fennel.

"I thought I told you to leave Veronica alone," he asked with narrowed, angry eyes. "Yet, here I am, seeing Veronica storm past me to her car, pale, angry and tears glistening in her eyes, not listening to me calling out to her and then I see you leaving the girl's bathroom after her." He stabbed a finger into Logan's chest. "That's not leaving her alone, man. And I told you to not hurt her again."

She had gone back to her car? Damn, he needed to hurry if he still wanted to catch up with her. "I don't have time for this now," Logan said and tried to step around Fennel to follow her to the parking lot.

Fennel wouldn't let him though and pushed him back against the wall. "Oh no, you won't. I think you've done enough for today."

Logan narrowed his eyes. "Get out of my way, Fennel," he warned.

"No," Fennel answered flatly. "Leave her alone."

Irritated, Logan shook his head. "First of all, that's her decision, not yours. Second, like I've already told you I think, what's between me and Ronnie doesn't concern you in the slightest. And third," he measured Fennel by looking the smaller guy up and down, grinning. "How are _you_ going to stop me?"

Before Fennel could say anything, a third voice spoke up. "Nothing easier than that, rich boy."

Logan turned his head to see Weevil standing right beside him, looking coldly at him. "Of course," he muttered.

"Now I believe my boy here told you to stay away from Veronica. I suggest you better listen to him," Weevil said in a way too pleasant tone.

"You are not going to tell me what to do or not to do," Logan told the biker, smiling deridingly.

Weevil let out a laugh and came a step closer. His grin vanished. "Hurt her and you won't grin anymore for a very long time."

"In case you haven't noticed it, you don't exactly scare me," Logan replied. "For that your tough biker gang boy act is just too poorly."

"Then you are a fool," Weevil said, his eyes growing colder.

"Don't worry, it's not so bad when you confuse your words, Mexican boy. You won't need English much anyway in the hole you'll end up in," Logan told him with an icy smile.

"You…"

"Mr Echolls and Mr Navarro, why am I not surprised?" Clemmons said, stepping between them and then looking at Fennel who still stood threateningly in front of Logan as well. "And Mr Fennel, now that is a slight surprise. Want to tell me what's going on?"

Logan grinned widely and slapped Weevil onto the back – hard. "Just a little chat among friends, Mr C. We're planning to go to church together, you know, to confess all our little sins and start anew."

"Yeah, a whole new person," Weevil nodded, slapping Logan back hard as well.

Clemmons seemed not to be amused. "I believe both you, Mr Echolls and you, Mr Navarro had had more than enough detention already this year, as well as suspensions. Be warned that next time, I may not be as generous." He looked at Fennel. "And if you want that basketball scholarship I assume you want then I advise you to stay away from people like these two boys here. Now, I believe each of you has classes to attend, gentlemen."

"Yes Sir," Fennel murmured and, with a last warning glare at Logan, turned to head away.

Clemmons turned his eyes to Weevil. Only with slight hesitation and an even more smoldering warning glare into Logan's direction, Weevil slowly backed away and vanished into one of the classrooms down the hall.

Finally, Clemmons looked at Logan. Logan grinned widely at him. "Of course, Mr C, I'll be right on my way. I fear I'll have to go get my books first so far. You see, our little talk had been so inspirational I totally lost my sense of time and therefore haven't made it to my locker yet."

"Just go, Mr Echolls," Clemmons said shortly and moved on. But the stern look he sent back at Logan over his shoulder told Logan to better not even think about skipping class.

Which was just what Logan had had in mind.

He needed to find Veronica.

But then, where exactly would he find her if she had left as Fennel had said? Had she gone home? Perhaps. She worked with her father, so he doubted she had gone to work, as her father definitely wouldn't approve of her skipping school. Or where else would Veronica Mars go to to cool down nowadays?

It seriously pissed him off that he had not the slightest idea about that.

So, he could as well do himself a favor and avoid further trouble by going to his first class. Perhaps by the time it was over, he'd have an idea where to go look for Veronica.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

The second the bell rang, Logan bailed out of class, of school. It wasn't as if he had heard a single word of what the teacher had said and he was pretty sure that wouldn't change until he had another little talk with Veronica. The only thing he could think about was the speeding ticket, now burning a hole into his pocket, and its implications.

Was Lilly's killer really still at loose?

He didn't know. Koontz could still have killed her, but the doubt was there now and it was killing him. He looked at his classmates and couldn't help but wonder if one of them had planted those sick presents for Veronica. If the asshole that had killed Lilly was sitting in jail, waiting for his death, like it was supposed to be or if he sat with him in the same class, right now. Or was he out there, tailing Veronica?

It was making him crazy. And it irked him that yet again, Mars had been right. He wasn't convinced of Koontz's innocence yet, but the doubt alone was insupportable for him. No wonder she was always that annoying.

And what the hell had she been thinking, dropping something like that on him and then vanishing!

_Come find me if you're ready to listen._

That had been her words, hadn't it been? Well, she just had forgotten to mention a fricking thing, like giving him a pointer where to find her.

Typical. She did everything she could to annoy the hell out of him, he thought grumbling as he raced with his car through the streets. He had figured that he'd start trying to find her there first. If she wasn't home, he'd go down to the beach, see if he could find her pathetic car somewhere. After that… well, he had no idea. Perhaps he'd try it at her home again later on. Or perhaps he'd just wait until tomorrow to corner her at school. But he really hoped that she'd be home.

Turning into her street, he parked in front of her house and jumped out of the car, beeping his X-Terra locked. With five big strides he was at her door, pressing the doorbell impatiently.

When the door finally opened, it wasn't Veronica though. No, it was some middle-aged woman, looking tired and the wailing of a baby along with the screaming of a little child that came from inside the house were telling the reason for her obvious exhaustion. And she didn't seem happy about the interruption at all.

What the heck…

Frowning, Logan looked around. No, it was the right house. He may not have been here in a while, but he sure hadn't forgotten where he had spent quite a deal of his time for four years. He looked back at the woman with a frown. "The Mars family?" he asked.

"I don't…" the woman snapped but then her face cleared a little. "Oh… that's the family that had lived here before. Sorry, but they moved away a year ago I think. And no, I don't know why." The screaming inside the house got louder and without another word, she stepped back and slammed the door into his face.

Growling, Logan moved back to his car, slower this time.

Stupid. He was stupid.

Of course Veronica and her dad had moved. Without being sheriff anymore, Keith Mars hardly would have been able to afford to live here, on the outsides of the 09er district. Not to mention that the neighborhood hardly would have been friendly after everything had gone down. And back then, Logan would hardly have been on Ronnie's list to receive a notice of the changed address, them being enemies by then.

Did anyone at all receive a note about that?

He doubted it. When he did something he did it right and his goal then had been to leave Veronica not with one single friend, something he had actually achieved, at least until this year had started and Fennel had come along.

Still… Somehow it really irritated him that he had no idea where Ronnie lived now, even though he was perfectly aware that even this morning, before coming to school, he wouldn't have given a damn rat's shit about where Ronnie lived now – if he had known that she had moved.

Okay, so she had moved. The big question was now: where to? Well, that shouldn't be too hard to find out. Down the street was a phone booth, that should be enough.

Quickly, he got back into his car and drove over to the booth, where he immediately went inside to consult the phone book.

Five minutes later he was ready to smash in the screen in frustration. Instead, he just got back into his car. The only Mars listed in Neptune he could find was Mars Investigation. Of course they could live there but Logan knew the street where it was and there were only offices, shops and take-outs, but certainly no apartments. Plus, he doubted that Ronnie's dad would risk living with Veronica at the same place where he went after his P.I. work. He was a rather careful man, that much Logan remembered of Keith Mars. Which was probably also why he couldn't find a living address of him and Veronica in the register. Probably he was unregistered, just like his own family was, not that that had helped to keep the fans, ogglers and paparazzi away from their driveway, but then, that was the bane of the celebrities. And that was the big problem. Keith Mars wasn't a celebrity. It was rather easy to find out where the great Aaron Echolls lived, one had just to ask around a little et voilà. Logan doubted strongly though that that would help him in finding the Mars' new place.

Fuck.

And now what?

The most logical thing would be to call Ronnie of course, then he would also know where she was. He had deleted her phone number already a year ago though. Not that he had remembered it anyway, for that he had had to dial her number too many times in his life. And he had tried that first thing leaving school. Unfortunately, the number no longer was in service. Looked like she had changed it.

So who could know where Ronnie lived now?

Well, there was Fennel. And, as much as Logan disliked that thought, probably also Weevil. Giving this morning's little confrontation with those two he doubted though that they would be willing to tell him Veronica's address.

Who else?

Damn it! That was probably what he got for making sure Veronica had lost her friends.

But wait… there was someone who actually had never joined the 'I hate Veronica' club. Meg. Okay, she had been 09er enough to not socialize with Veronica anymore. But ever since Veronica had cleared her name during that time where the whole school had gone wild because of the purity test, they had become friends again. So Meg might know her address. And more important, she was more likely to tell him it.

In a heartbeat, he had his cell phone out, scrolling down his address book. He and Meg weren't exactly friends, but he knew he had her number somewhere, them having it exchanged sometime when they had had to work on a school project together. He just hoped she hadn't changed the number since then.

"Yeah?"

She hadn't. "Hey Meg, it's Logan," he said, not bothering to mask his relief.

"Is there something I can help you with?" she asked and he could hear her surprise.

He couldn't blame her. This call was rather unexpected after all. And she would be only more surprised once she heard just why he was calling. "Actually yes. I wondered if you happen to know where Veronica lives now."

There was a slight pause on the other end. "What?"

Impatiently, Logan drummed with his fingers onto the steering wheel. "Veronica. You're still friends with her aren't you? So, do you know where she lives?"

Another pause. "Why?"

Was he imagining it or was sweet, naïve Meg Manning actually sounding mistrustful there? "I just need to speak with her, okay?" he sighed.

"Why?" Meg asked again though.

Exasperated, Logan banged his head against his headrest. "Sorry Meg, but that's private," he said, rather hostile.

"Look Logan, Veronica's my friend. I don't want you to…"

"I'm not going to hurt her, okay?" Logan hissed. "I'm not planning to tar and feather her or anything like that. I just need to find her, to talk with her and that urgently. So just tell me her address, please?"

Silence.

Logan grinded his teeth. "Look, it's not as if I won't find it out sooner or later, you'd just help me by making it sooner."

Still nothing. Argh! "If you want I can have her call you back once I'm gone again. That is, if she's home at all," he grumbled.

Finally, Meg sighed. "Okay. But don't make me regret that." She told him the address and Logan frowned. That was a pretty shabby district of Neptune.

"Thanks Meg," Logan said sincerely.

"And Logan?" Meg stopped him from ending the call. "Tell her to give me that call."

The line went dead and Logan stared at his phone for a moment. He had had no idea that Meg could be so adamant and be such a fierceful protector.

It looked like Veronica had found some really protective friends lately, something that was pretty annoying for Logan right now. If he and Veronica decided to take a try at a friendship again or at least something like that then she would need to do something about them. He wasn't keen on having to go through a confrontation with them every time he wanted to see or talk with her, let alone if they thought he had done or said something to upset her.

But first things first and foremost, he needed to hear what else she had found out about Lilly's murder.

He turned the key and started to drive to the apartment building Veronica lived in now.

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She better be home after all the trouble he had needed to go through just to learn her freaking address, he thought darkly.

To his immense relief, her ugly Le Baron was parked in front of the apartment building where she now seemed to live, so he pulled his X-Terra up behind her and got out of his car, walking slowly through the gate, taking a look around. He guessed that the two stories complex wasn't so bad for this neighborhood. And the people living here didn't seem too accustomed to have one of his wealth visiting them in turn, he thought as he caught a couple sitting at the pool giving him a weird glance.

He'd better hurry and find Veronica's apartment. Slowly, he walked along the pool until he spotted the number Meg had told him. Taking a deep breath, Logan went over to the door and knocked. From inside, the barking of Back-Up was being heard, soon followed by Veronica's soft voice. "What is it, my boy? Someone at the door, hmm?"

And already, the door opened to reveal a freshly showered and dressed Veronica. Wordlessly, she stared at him.

"I'm ready to listen," Logan said finally, holding her eyes.

Still wordlessly, she pushed the door open and turned to went back inside. A bit hesitant, Logan came in behind her, closing the door after him. This was… strange. He and Veronica hadn't been alone much over the last year and certainly never on such a not neutral ground like her apartment. Suddenly, he wasn't so sure if he hadn't better waited until tomorrow to corner her in the bathroom again about that speeding ticket.

He was jerked out of his doubts by big, heavy paws landing forceful on his thighs, causing him to stagger backwards a bit. Laughing, he knelt down to give Back-Up a good long ruffle while he tried to escape the row wet tongue of the pit-bull.

"Yeah, Dude, I get it," he chuckled as he scratched the dog behind his ears.

"He _is_ supposed to be the big, mean berserk guard dog who shall protect me from all the bad guys out there in the world, you know."

His hands still rubbing over Back-Up's strong body, Logan looked over to Veronica, smiling. "Then I guess he knows I'm not the bad guy."

Veronica leaned against a kitchen counter as she watched her dog and her arch enemy having their prolonged moment of reunion. "Or he just doesn't know that not every hurtful weapon is visible. And obviously, his memory is not as good as mine."

Loosing his smile, Logan looked down, his fingers gently massaging Back-Up's head. When he looked back up again, he was serious. "I'm here to listen to you." He smiled weakly. "So don't worry, Back-Up is doing his job just fine." With a last pad onto the dog's head, Logan stood up again, facing Veronica.

Slowly, Veronica gave a nod and turned away, moving to the refrigerator. "Want something to drink?"

Sure, he could need a couple of shots of whiskey, but he doubted that Veronica had meant anything with pro cent. "A coke or soda?"

She grabbed two cokes and threw one of the cans over to Logan who caught it with ease.

"How did you find me?"

Logan frowned, looking at her back and came over to the counter. "Not with your help, that much is clear." He sighed. "I ended up asking Meg for your address. Oh, and before I forget, you're supposed to call her once I'm gone so she'll know that I didn't ship you off to some third world country."

She turned to grin at him. "Really? Meg Manning told you that?"

He glared at her. "Don't sweet it, Veronica," he warned.

"Oh no, I think I'll sweet that for quite a while yet," Veronica contradicted, her grin growing bigger.

Grinding his teeth, Logan busied himself with carefully opening the can of coke.

"Besides, she lets you know that if she doesn't hear from me within six hours, she'll sick the National Guard on you."

With narrowed eyes, Logan's head shot up. "She called you," he stated.

Damn it, he should have known.

Veronica nodded. "The second she was off the phone with you."

"Figures…" Logan muttered and looked annoyed at Veronica's way too smirking face. "Very funny, Mars."

"Yeah, I think so too," she agreed and came over to lean against the counter as well, facing Logan.

Sensing that they had avoided the subject they needed to talk about long enough now, Logan reached into his pocket and pulled out the folded speeding ticket. Silently, he unfolded it and put it onto the counter between them.

For a while, Veronica just stared at Lilly's picture on it.

"Come on Veronica. What does that mean?" Logan asked when he couldn't support her silence any longer.

Her eyes rose from the ticket to Logan's face. "It's exactly what it looks like. A speeding ticket that shows Lilly alive two hours after her supposedly death." Her eyes met his. "The proof that something is seriously amiss with Lilly's case and Abel Koontz's confession."

Logan's initiate reaction was to protest. Instead, he took a deep breath. "It doesn't prove though that he _didn't_ do it."

"No, it doesn't," Veronica agreed silently.

Logan gave her a pointed look. "As you seem to be very sure that he didn't do it I assume that there is more."

Veronica gave a slight smile, but looked down, slowly twirling her can. When she looked back at him she were an expression he couldn't quite define. "Before I even go into that you need to know something. I need to know something."

"What?" Logan asked with a frown.

"There's a big probability that you won't like some of the things I found out. And it's quite possible that there will be even more. But just because you don't like them will make them any less true. Nor can I need you to jump to conclusions that may be fatal." Her eyes hardened. "So, are you really sure you want to hear all that? Want to help me, even if it may be necessary to do things you won't be proud of?"

Shaking his head, Logan looked past Veronica, out the window. When he looked at her, there was only determination on his face. "I don't care. I told you Ronnie, I want to know what's going on." His eyes narrowed down to slits. "And if you're right and Abel Koontz hadn't killed Lilly, then I want to find who did it. I want to make him pay."

"Me too, Logan, but self justice won't be the way to it," Veronica said quietly.

He glanced at her.

"I mean it. I hate him and I'll do everything that he'll pay but I won't be responsible for you…"

"What Ronnie? You won't be responsible for me _what_?" Logan asked sharply, his eyes further narrowing.

She didn't answer.

"For me to, hmm, perhaps do the same thing he did to Lilly and bash in his head?" Logan asked, smirking.

Still, she didn't answer. She just looked down and that was almost worse than her saying anything.

"God Veronica, I get that we had been a bit rough to each other this past year, but you seriously think I could kill someone?" Logan asked, laughing humorlessly. How could she think that of him? Okay, they had been enemies for a while now, but murder?

"If provoked? Yeah, yeah, I think you could do it," Veronica said softly as her eyes met his. "To defend yourself or protect someone you love? Yeah. To avenge someone? I'm not sure but I don't think so. It's more your style to make his life a living hell and I don't think you'd have a problem to beat the fuck out of him, but no, I don't think you could. On purpose? No. Never."

"But you do think I could kill someone?" Logan repeated, staring at her out of wide eyes.

She shrugged. "Yeah. I know I could. I don't want to but if it's a choice between me or my dad or someone who wants to kill me or my dad, then it's not really a choice."

Veronica really thought that of herself?

"I don't."

"What?" Veronica looked confused.

Logan slowly walked around the corner to stand right in front of her, staring down at her intently. "I don't think you could do it ever. And if you had to, it would kill you."

Her eyes widened.

Briskly, he turned away from her and moved over to the couch. "Now stop stalling and lay it on me, Nancy."

He could feel her eyes on him, before she came over and put her coke onto the couch table. "Just a second," she said and vanished down a small corridor.

Left alone, Logan used the time to take a better look around. The place was small, probably the smallest place he'd ever been in. The furniture was shabby and obviously cheap. And there were stains at the wall and small rips in the ceiling. Still… Ronnie's home hadn't lost the warmth he had always felt in it, that feeling of home, of having a small, safe harbor for yourself to come to and relax, be happy, be content. Even if it was this dump here, only lived in by a father and daughter and dog, the mother missing. He didn't know how they did it, to make it feel so homey. Was it the slight disorder? The beautiful pictures that lined the wall, clearly the work of Veronica? Or all the little personal items scattered around the room, probably not even worth five dollars but oh so much more emotionally? Or simply because the people living here were bonded by a deep, natural, free love?

His eyes skimmed past shots of Ronnie in various ages until it fell on one that showed a more recent shot of Ronnie and her dad, kneeling at the beach, their hands ruffling Back-Up and grinning widely into the camera.

He guessed it was the love.

And he had really thought for even a second that Ronnie would give that up, ever?

Weevil had been right. He was a fool.

"Logan?"

"Yeah," he said shortly, careful to not show her anything of what had been going on in his head. She stood beside him, a frown on her face as her eyes searched his. He avoided her by looking at the notebook and a file in her hand. He waved at it. "What are you waiting for? Lay it on me."

For a moment longer, he could feel her searching eyes on him, but then she sat down beside him, put the notebook on the table and opened it. Her fingers flew over the keyboard, too fast for him to even detect her password, not that he was looking for it. Half a minute later, the black screen was replaced by a shot of Veronica and Lilly in evening gowns, laughing into the camera. With a start he recognized it, not the picture in itself, but the time when it had been taken. Homecoming. Their last happy evening together, the best dance ever. He gulped and instead concentrated on the files, labeled under '_The murder of Lilly Kane_'. Evidence, suspects, facts, rumors. As Veronica wasn't saying anything yet, Logan reached out and opened the suspects file, curious who all she had listed there.

_Aber Koontz. Jake Kane. Celeste Kane. Duncan Kane. Logan Echolls. Unknown._

Of course. Why was he surprised to see these names as her suspects? He shouldn't. This was Veronica Mars after all. God, did she really believe that one of them could have killed Lilly? Lilly hadn't the best of relationships with her parents, but that it was so bad that they'd kill her? No. No, it just couldn't be. And Duncan? Was she really serious? How could she even for a second believe that Duncan of all people could kill his sister? She of all people should know how much he had loved Lilly! Why on Earth should he kill her?

Shaking his head, Logan ran his hand through his hair. The fact that Ronnie still had to say something told him that this was probably some kind of test for him. To see if he could stomach it.

Could he?

Could he even for a second believe that his best friend had killed his own sister?

No. No, he couldn't. But he could still do this. And if it was only to prove to Ronnie that Duncan hadn't done it.

_Logan Echolls._

Somehow he wasn't even angry that his name was listed on the suspects list either. Ronnie had always been pretty thorough and he guessed that she was even more thorough in such an important thing like Lilly's murder. Curious, he clicked on his own name and looked at the sub files there.

_Motif, alibi, opportunity. _

Before he could continue, Veronica's small hands gently pushed his hands away from the pad and she opened the 'alibi' file. "You were in Tijuana, two eyewitnesses. Your alibi is tight."

"I guess I can be glad that my alibi's held up like that," he said dryly.

"Yeah. Otherwise you wouldn't be here Logan. It would be really stupid to let a suspect help me finding the real killer, wouldn't it be?" Veronica said evenly.

Uncomfortable, Logan stood up and paced in front of the couch table.

"What do you think Lilly would make of us investigating all the people who loved her?" he finally asked, coming to a stop in front of her, staring intently at her.

Her face was closed of when she answered. "She'll forgive me because it is necessary to find out who did kill her, to bring her justice and that is what she really wants." She took a deep breath. "But you know where the door is if you can't do it. I've made it so far without help and I'll continue to make it on my own."

"Right, that's why someone leaves you sick presents to warn you off the case," Logan pointed out, irritated.

"I'm not sure if these presents have any connections with Lilly's case," Veronica contradicted him calmly.

"Oh please! Lilly's crime scene picture, an ashtray? I think the message is obvious," Logan said with a snort.

"Yeah, it seems so. Problem is just that hardly anyone knows that I'm investigating her murder. Okay, I've been to see Koontz and he could have warned whoever has covered up for him, but that's been a while already and I don't see why they waited all those weeks until now to start leaving these little messages."

Logan stared at her. "You went to see Abel Koontz?" he asked incredulous.

She frowned. "Yeah. I wanted to know why he had lied about Lilly's murder." She made a face. "Pretty bad idea. He had laughed right into my face, not giving me one answer. Someone must have warned him from me, because he had known right away who I really was, despite my false name and fake id."

"You got into the death tract with false id?" Logan repeated flabbergasted.

Veronica shrugged. "No big deal. His attorney, a friend of my father, owed me a favor, so I was on the list and cleared to visit Koontz. Besides, prisons are more worried about one of their guests breaking out than about the real identity of the visitors. They check you thoroughly for hidden files but your id? Not really much."

Logan couldn't do anything else but just stare at her, listening to her talking about infiltrating a high security state prison as if it was no big deal at all and just wondered who that girl was. Surely not the Ronnie he had known, once upon a time.

He shook his head. "Boy, you've really changed, haven't you?"

Veronica stopped and looked at him, guarded. "I guess I have." She looked away. "I needed to."

Logan frowned at these words. Did she want to implicit that she had needed to change because of him? Or was there something else?

"But then I guess all this didn't came overnight," he continued in hurry, wanting her to turn back to her normal self – whatever it was nowadays. "Just how much did you hold out on us, Veronica?"

"Whatever do you mean?" she asked innocently, but he was relieved to see a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.

"You can't kid me anymore, Mars," he replied, a grin starting to lift his corners as well. "Your angelic face and baby blue eyes won't deceive me again."

"Too bad," she sighed and glanced up at him from under her eyelashes. "And I don't have blue eyes, let alone baby blue ones."

"I've noticed," Logan said dryly. "Figure of speaking, ever heard of that, Ronnie?"

"Oh, that's how it is called," she replied and snipped with her fingers. "Shoot."

Involuntarily, Logan laughed. Really laughed. Not a forced laugh, not deridingly or sardonally, but really and truly laughed like he hadn't laughed since before Lilly had died. And damn, it felt good.

Veronica too was smiling as he plopped down back beside her on the couch and waved at her, rowing serious. "Now tell me what you've found out so far."

Giving him a last probing look, she finally took the file on her lap and opened it.

And she talked.

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Once she was finished with talking, Logan just sat there, taking it all in. He had no idea how long exactly he sat there, on her couch, staring blindly at the pictures she had pulled out of her file.

"So?" Veronica eventually asked.

Shaking his head, Logan got up and walked over to her window to lean against it, stare out, still not able to find any words to express what he was feeling, what was going on in his head.

"Logan please, say something," Veronica pleaded. "What do you think?"

Finally, Logan turned around to look at her. Had he heard nervousness in her voice, just there? Yeah. Yeah, she really was nervous. And suddenly he understood why. This must have been the first time she had ever told someone else about all the things she had found out, the conclusions she had drawn out of the new evidence she had gathered.

Somehow, that knowledge touched him. Her trust in him, despite everything that had happened and despite them still not really be friends again, to tell him all that, to lay her cards down so openly.

With a sigh, he closed his eyes and looked down, his arms tightly crossed over his chest.

"Abel Koontz did not kill Lilly," he said in a whisper.

After everything she had to say, he knew that without doubt now.

He opened his eyes to look back at her, the relief he could see in her eyes, as well as the sympathy for him. For once, he didn't mind the sympathy. "Which means that the asshole who _did _kill her is still at large."

And that thought alone caused a boiling rage to burn deep inside him. It was insupportable to know that Lilly's killer was still free, enjoying his life somewhere. And it was even worse. Veronica could think what she wanted, but Logan was sure that the same guy was now after her as well, that he was the one warning Veronica off the case with theses sick little presents.

His eyes narrowed down to two angry, determined slits.

But he wouldn't. Logan wouldn't let him. He rather died than to allow that sick bastard to hurt Ronnie as well.

After making this silent oath to himself, he focused back on Veronica. "Now what do we do to find him?" he asked, his voice hard with determination.

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TBC!

_(Author's Note: That's it folks. Hope you liked it. I always thought that the show should have shown us at least one scene where Veronica and Logan talked about what had gone down between them in the year since Lilly's death. And why exactly didn't Logan want to know more about her investigation of Lilly's murder? It does seem a bit illogical. Well, in this story this will be different as you can see. How much it will change the storyline as we know it? You'll see. Thanks for the wonderful comments! And please, keep them coming!)_


	6. 5 Friends

**Chapter 5: Friends**

"This isn't working!" was the first thing Logan told Veronica impatiently as he slipped into the girl's bathroom a couple of minutes later, almost two weeks since they had talked it all out.

Two weeks since he learned that Lilly's killer wasn't in jail, but still somewhere out there. Two weeks in which he had feared that the same bastard was now going after Veronica. Two weeks of eyeing everyone suspiciously, thinking if that person could be a sick, murdering psychopath. Two weeks of them acting as if they were still the enemies everyone believed them to be.

Two very, _very_ long weeks.

"Logan, you need to give it more time. We've barely begun," Veronica told him with a sigh.

"We didn't learn anything! Two weeks of snooping around and nada!" Logan hissed, pacing back and forth in the little space.

"Well, what did you expect? That the next best guy will just fall onto his knees and confess?" Veronica asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Of course not," Logan snapped, glaring at her. "But this still isn't working!"

"Look, these things take time. Her murder's happened over a year ago and officially, her case is closed. That means every lead and trace is ice cold and as much as we want it to, new leads wont just pop up at our beck and call," Veronica told him, her voice gentle.

"Well, it still isn't working. And it won't work, I can already guarantee that much," Logan insisted, throwing up his arms and came to a stop in front of Veronica. "How I could ever believe that it could work is beyond me. None of the 09ers will ever be stupid enough to tell _me_ anything!"

"They will rather talk to you than to me," Veronica told him calmly.

"I was her boyfriend, Ronnie!" Logan exclaimed and shook his head. "And I think I made it pretty clear in the past that I will punish anyone who dares to say or do anything that mars the memory of Lilly."

"Yeah, that you did," Veronica nodded dryly, with a trace of bitterness in her voice though. "Look, I know myself that it's a big shot, but it's the best we can do for the moment. We need to find out if anyone heard or saw something about her seeing someone or where she was between leaving the car wash and getting home. You knew Lilly. It's unlikely she met anyone outside the 09ers, be it female or male."

Yeah, he knew that much. "That doesn't mean anyone saw or heard anything though. Or if one had that he's going to tell that, now, after a year, and to me on top of it all."

"Sometimes, people don't know if they've seen or heard anything relevant, important. Maybe Shelley saw her talking with a guy once and now doesn't remember it anymore, maybe Dick heard her bitching about a girl and forgot it." She shook her head, sighing. "What we need to do is to trigger their memories and see if that helps us any." She gave him a poignant look. "I never said it would be easy, Logan. I warned you that it wouldn't be easy. You wanted to help anyway. But if you plan to be a total pain in the ass whenever it doesn't go as smoothly as you want it to, then you can as well just forget about it."

"Oh, save it Mars," Logan told her grudgingly, but ran his hands through his hair, before he sighed. "It's just so frustrating," he murmured.

"You tell me," Veronica responded sarcastically. "You forget that I'm looking for her real murderer for almost five months now. And the big new things I did found out were mostly pure coincidence. Like that speeding ticket. Like seeing the same shoes of Lilly as evidence found on Koontz' houseboat when they've been photographed in Lilly's room the night of her murder."

"That's not exactly reassuring," Logan said, making a face.

"No, it isn't," Veronica sighed and looked down.

With a frown, Logan looked at Veronica, sitting on the sink counter and he felt himself finally calming down. "Anything on your front?"

Veronica shook her head. "No. I still couldn't find any trace of the money the Kanes must have paid him for his fake confession. Or why he willingly faces the death row now, still saying nothing. I know it must be somewhere. That there's a good reason for all this. But no luck so far."

"There something I can do to help?" Logan asked, doubting it.

And sure enough, Veronica shook her head. "No, I don't think so. That's my job."

Logan nodded and looked at her for a moment longer. "Any new 'presents'?"

"No."

Relieved, he shrugged. "Perhaps it was just a bad joke after all?" he asked hopefully.

She nodded, but didn't look up. "Perhaps."

Keeping his eyes on her, Logan bit his lips. "I'm sorry for that thing at lunch," he said quietly.

At lunch, he had passed her table along with Dick and Dick had found it necessary to stop and question Veronica about her obsession with rich 09er boys, fueled by the fact that Casey Gant, though back to driving a sports car and having lost his urge to play haggy sack with the blue eyed good doers was still seen an awful lot with Veronica Mars, who, despite him having taken on a lot of his old, arrogant ways, seemed to don't mind his attention. The girls didn't like it and the boys loved to talk dirty about it. Logan had tried to keep the talk down, but he couldn't be too obvious about it and not let it be shown that his war with Veronica Mars was over. That they were in fact back to some sort of a friendship. Nothing like they had had, but at least something better than they had been for the past year.

Besides… if he wanted to be absolutely honest, he didn't like Gant sniffling around Veronica either. He didn't trust this new old Casey. But then, that wasn't his business, was it?

Veronica shrugged. "Don't worry. I've heard worse."

Yeah. That she probably had. From him none the less.

"Ronnie…"

"Relax Logan." She looked up and her eyes met his, without any trace of anger in them. "I know you didn't mean what you said." She smiled. "I could see it in your eyes. Besides, it had been my idea for you to act as if we are the same old enemies."

Yep, that much was true. Logan wouldn't have minded to officially declare the war to be over. But Veronica thought that their chances to learn anything from the 09ers, or rather said, for him to hear anything, was when everyone still believed that nothing had changed between them.

It was a twisted logic, but then, he knew exactly just how much she was hated among the others. Hated and feared. She was probably right.

So, for the past two weeks they had met secretly here in the bathroom during school or at her place to discuss their progress or better said, lack of progress and their plans to finally get some answers. Or phoned with each other, but rather seldomly. The only official time they could spend together and talk freely was when they met to work for their feature of the FABL's progress in their housing project. The feature had actually been quite a success and it looked like Neptune High was going to win. Ms Dent even said that there were indeed a few donations that had come in, after their last article in which they had described the homeless' life on the street, along with a few very powerful shots to visualize it even more. Veronica had made both the pictures as well as the interview for this one, insisting that it wouldn't be a good idea for Logan to show his face on their turf. He had protested but relented in the end. This new Veronica sure knew how to get what she wanted, he had to admit that to her. But the problem was that there was only one article left and then the project would be finished and they'd be without a legal reason to see each other openly.

Plus, Christmas break would start in a week and then they'd have to sit still for two weeks, their chances slim to learn anything over the break.

The bell rang and they both looked up, startled.

"And I'm late for math once again," Logan sighed.

"Your teacher can be glad that you show up at all," Veronica drawled, hopping down from the counter and went over to the door to peek out. "So she'll hardly twitch an eyelid when you show up late. Whereas Mr Wu will seriously frown upon me showing up late, once again."

Logan chuckled, leaning against her back to peek out himself. "I have you informed that I'm very dutiful in always attending my math classes."

"Oh please, tell me you don't have a crush on Ms Littelton as well!" she snorted. "That's so beneath you."

"You think?" Logan asked, amused.

"Go, cost's clear," she said instead of answering though and pushed open the door. Then, she shoved, him out. "Go and have fun ogling Miss botax lips and breast implants."

"Sure Mam," he saluted her before prowling away, a smile on his lips.

It was good to joke around with Ronnie again.

* * *

"Come on, pick up," Logan murmured, pacing back and forth in the pool house.

It rang nine more times before he finally heard the click indicating that his call had been answered at last.

"I hate you."

"Sweet, Ronnie, really sweet. I love you too," Logan smirked, coming to a stop.

There was a slight pause. "Logan?"

"I could use your help," Logan just said, too impatient to loose time with pleasantries.

"Can't it wait 'til tomorrow, after I've had my beauty sleep?"

Logan shook his head. "Listen Mars, while I usually would love to fuel your crankiness, I really need a little detecting done and I figured, as we have this new truce going on between us and all, that surely you will draw so much pleasure out of my misfortune that you'd jump at the chance to take over all that detecting stuff."

She let out a groan. "Logan, I'm tired. So cut the crap and just tell me what you want."

"I had this poker game on tonight…"

"And you lost all your trust fund money? Sorry Logan, I can't help you when you suck at poker."

"I let you know that I do not suck at poker," Logan told her with grinded teeth. "And that's not why I'm calling. The problem is that at the end of the game, when I wanted to hand out the money from the pot, five grand, it was gone."

"So what? It's not as if you can't afford such peanuts," Ronnie asked, unimpressed. "And as I assume the rest of you Newman-wannabes were all 09er buddies of yours with their own trust fund I doubt they were too much bothered about it either."

Logan clenched his jaw. Sometimes, Ronnie was just a plain pain in the ass. "Problem is that your buddy Weevil was the one to win and he wasn't very pleased when his money was gone. Actually, he was pretty pissed."

"Weevil? What on Earth was Weevil doing there?"

"Not the point. The point is that your little biker friend's now determined to get to his money one way or another. So when he left, he left with a Fabergé Egg that, by the way, is worth a lot more than a thousand dollars. Actually, it's a lot more worth than five thousand dollars," Logan told her, resuming his nervous pacing.

"You gonna lie with dogs, you shouldn't be surprised to wake up with fleas," Ronnie dryly commented.

Frustrated, Logan shook his head. "You don't get it, Ronnie. I need that egg back. It's Dad's Christmas present for Mom. If he finds out that it's gone…" Logan stopped himself just in time before he blurted something out he really didn't want Veronica to hear. "Look, then I'll be in serious trouble, okay? So, will you help me get that egg back or what?"

"And how am I supposed to do that? I know you think Weevil and I are some sort of friends, but believe me, Logan, he's not going to give you that egg back just because I ask him nicely," Veronica replied with a sigh.

Running a hand through his hair, Logan shook his head. "Well, you're the super sleuth here. Figure something out."

She sighed again. "You think the egg is enough to satisfy Weevil?"

"No. He made it pretty clear that he was going to get his money from the others too," Logan quickly answered.

"Who are they?"

"Duncan, Sean and Connor Larkin."

"No wonder Weevil won," she mumbled, but before Logan could say anything, she continued. "Maybe Weevil will give the egg back when we find his money. Any idea who took it?"

"No. I'd say the bad boy with the bike and tattoos all over his body might be a likely suspect," Logan responded sarcastically.

"Yeah, and it makes so much sense for him to steal the money he had won anyway," Ronnie retorted as sarcastically.

"Well, he didn't know he was going to win, did he? Not to mention that this way he gets to score twice, with the pot money and the money he'll get for the egg and whatever else he's going to steal," Logan argued back.

"Considering how much you love Weevil, maybe you took the money and set Weevil up, humiliate him a little," Ronnie fired back.

"Don't be ridiculous. First, the pool boy his hardly worth me giving him that much attention. Second, if I wanted to humiliate him I can think of at least a dozen better ways to do that than this which lead us to three, that this is the most harebrained set-up scenario I've ever heard of," Logan pointed out, annoyed. "Especially when I then call you for help which has been, as I can see now, clearly a mistake. So thanks for nothing, Ronnie, was nice chatting with you."

"Okay, okay…" Veronica muttered and let out another big sigh. "I'll see what I can do, but Logan, don't you think it's a bit suspicious when word gets out that I somehow got the details and am now helping you get your egg back?"

"Come on! Want to tell me that you can't mask this, make it somehow to some of your cover-up operations you like so much?" Logan challenged her. "Besides, you can just wait until your boy went for something of Duncan's. No one will suspect anything when you claim you're helping him get back his things," he added callously.

"You're such an asshole sometimes," Veronica said, edged.

"And you a bitch. But let's drop the sweet talk and get back to business. Will you help me now or not?" Logan asked, seriously.

"Not that you deserve it, but yeah, I'll help," she grumbled.

Logan grinned. "Thanks, Ronnie."

She laughed that laugh people laugh despite themselves. "Can I go back to sleep now? Because you know, I'd like to be on my best when I'll go commit myself because obviously, I must be crazy to help you find your egg – at Christmas none the less."

"Ah, don't sweet it, I'm sure that's only a small thing compared to your obvious other problems," he told her affectionately.

"Bye Logan," she said exasperated and already, the signal tone beeped into his ear.

Smiling, Logan closed the phone, a lot calmer than a few minutes ago. She was going to get that egg back, he knew it. Because she would never accept failure, especially not in front of him. They may not be enemies anymore, hating each other, but the memory was still fresh enough for her to not back down from a challenge, just because it was a matter of pride.

Logan had been counting on exactly that. Because he really needed that egg back. If not and his father found about how it got stolen… she just had to find that stupid egg.

* * *

"Logan?"

"Hmm?" Logan asked, looking up from the book he had been reading to see Duncan standing in front of him, looking a tad bit nervous.

"My notebook got stolen," Duncan said quietly, sitting down beside him, casting a quick look around the still empty classroom.

"Aw man, that sucks," Logan commented sympathetically and shook his head. "Boy, Paco sure had worked fast."

Duncan nodded and was playing with a pen. "Yeah. Uh, you know, Veronica kinda witnessed me confronting Weevil."

"Kinda, huh?" Logan laughed. "Jeez, when will that girl finally get the picture and drop her stalking."

The pen stilled and Duncan's face closed off. "Logan," he sighed, shaking his head.

Raising an eyebrow, Logan acted as if he had no clue what Duncan was talking about. "What?" he asked innocently.

"You know, I thought after this whole fiasco with that stupid girl you'd finally stop thinking of Veronica as the Antichrist. Obviously, I've been wrong," his friend told him, clearly disappointed.

Exasperated, Logan shook his head. "Oh Duncan, I don't think she's the Antichrist." He grinned. "She's just a bitch that, no matter what, has betrayed me. That's all."

"Logan, she was hurting too. She's still hurting. Can't you just lay off of her?" Duncan pleaded, quietly.

'Oh Duncan, you have no idea', Logan thought as he looked away. They needed to change the topic. He had no problem publicly ignoring Veronica, giving no clue about their changed relationship, but this was different. This was his best friend and he hated lying to his best friend. And he wasn't ready anymore to really dish out Veronica, especially not in private like here. With his best friend.

The best friend she seriously was investigating for the murder of his own sister.

Right.

They definitely needed a change of topic.

"So, is there any reason why we're having this conversation or can I just go back to my book now?" he asked, tensely.

Duncan exhaled slowly. "Actually, there is. Like I've been saying: Veronica saw me confronting Weevil about the notebook and… well, I kinda told her about the poker game and the missing money and… Well, I asked her for help to get my computer back."

Logan glanced back at him, slightly surprised. This was going better than he had expected it to go. "Why would you do that?" He laughed deridingly. "And how much does Ms Mars charge for her help? I always wondered, you know."

Duncan shook his head. "Nothing, of course not. When I told her what's on the computer she pretty much agreed to help get it back." There appeared a smile on Duncan's face, one of those rare, genuine ones.

Logan raised an eyebrow. "And what would that be?" he asked, curiously. Oh, he wasn't surprised that Veronica had agreed to help Duncan, that had been the plan after all, but still, he wondered for what she let herself be 'convinced'.

His curiosity grew though when Duncan blushed slightly and avoided to look at him. "Uh… I… I've kept sort of a journal on it. For the past couple of years? Reminding her that she's… well, a rather big part in some of these parts she seemed more than willing to talk with Weevil about getting it back."

"What?" Logan asked startled. This was news to him.

Duncan shrugged, somewhat embarrassed. "Well, you know Mom. My computer was safer than an actual journal."

"You kept a journal?" Logan repeated, unbelieving.

"There's nothing wrong with that," Duncan defended himself.

"No, no, of course not," Logan mumbled, quickly drawing back.

It was just… Duncan was his best friend. Why hadn't Logan known that Duncan kept a journal at all? And… if it really covered the last couple of years, then perhaps, there was also something about Lilly in it, about the time before her murder. About her murder. Something that would prove to Veronica that Duncan was innocent. So they could tell him about this whole investigation, so he could help them find out what really had happened back then. The way Logan saw it, he was their best chance to learn more about what had happened in the Kane's household that fateful night. But that could only happen once Veronica had no doubt anymore that Duncan hadn't anything to do with it, something Logan still refused to believe. The mere thought was simply ridiculous, no matter what all the evidence said. Not that it pointed to Duncan, so far, it just proved that someone had messed with the case, seriously, seeing to it that Koontz got convicted for the murder. And yeah, Logan had to admit that it looked as if the Kane's had something to do with that. But Duncan killing Lilly?

No. Never.

"Look, I just wanted you to know."

Duncan's voice brought Logan out of his thoughts and he looked back at him. "What?"

"About Veronica. I know you don't like it, her knowing about the game and the money and everything, but…" Duncan's eyes met Logan's, firm and calm. "_I_ asked her to look into it, help us out, okay? It hasn't been her idea. So if she perhaps tries to talk to you about it, like I assume she will… well…"

Logan narrowed his eyes a bit. "Aww, want to tell me that I can't rip off her head?" he pouted and then smirked, returning his gaze back to his book, trying hard not to laugh. 'oh, if he just knew,' he thought again, amused. "Relax, DK. When your fair maiden shows up at my doorstep I'll be nothing than a gentleman and will eagerly answer all her questions," he promised, sarcastically.

Duncan opened his mouth, but at that moment the bell rang and promptly, first students started to come in as well to take their places. Logan kept his attention on his book so in the end, Duncan just let it be and turned to face forward, waiting for their teacher to arrive as well.

Just for show, Logan turned a page, not that he had actually registered even one word of what he was pretending to read. No, his thoughts swirled around that journal. Perhaps, this whole fiasco could turn out to finally get them somewhere with their investigation. If they were going to be able to get into the computer and that journal, once Veronica had gotten it back. Okay, he didn't feel at ease with the thought of invading Duncan's privacy like that but it was to prove that he had nothing to do with Lilly's murder so he hoped that justified this absolute breach of trust.

Besides, Logan was perfectly happy to never let Duncan know about them having peeked into his journal. There was really no need to tell him, even if they told him about their investigation one day.

* * *

"Wow, wow, the testosterone… I think I just walked into a wall."

Startled, Logan looked up from the videogame he had been playing to see one Veronica Mars standing in the door to the pool house. Surprised to see her there, he shook his head as he smirked. "See? That's why I suggested some nice big fletching Dobermans, but no, my mom wanted a lousy security firm."

"And sunnily sarcastic as always as I can see," Ronnie commented dryly and came further into the room, taking a look around. "Have been looking for something? Or have your levels of pigyness just seriously increased?"

Logan eyed her warily as he put away the joystick. Sure, he and Ronnie had spent time together lately, mostly in the girls' bathroom, sometimes in one of their cars and even a couple of times at her home. This was different though. For the first time in over a year, Ronnie had come back to his house and frankly said, it felt awkward.

Before, Ronnie had been over at his house on a regular basic. Alone, in the first years of their friendship, and later, usually with either Duncan or Lilly there as well, if not both. And sure enough, unwanted memories started to rise, of her and Lilly lounging beside the pool, of Duncan and Ronnie cuddling together on one of the beach chairs, of him picking up a squealing fourteen years old Ronnie and plumbing her, soccer form and shoes on, into the pool and her coming up sputtering and spitting mad, vowing revenge which she actually had gotten three days later, short, of better, happier times.

Shit. He didn't want them. Couldn't need them.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, perhaps a bit more sharply than he had intended to.

But she merely shrugged and pulled out a large envelope. "Dad asked me to drop off some paperwork for your mom."

"Well, do I look like my mother?" he snapped, still trying to fight off more and more memories conjured up by her simply being here.

"Hmm, let's see, a nice, curvy dress, a wig…" she made a face. "Ewww, no. Thankfully for your mom you definitely don't look like her."

"Then why are you wasting my time?" Logan asked, glaring at her.

Any trace of humor left her and was replaced by tight anger. "Actually, I wanted to talk with you, but obviously this would just be a waste of _my_ time," she told him coldly and, with a shake of her head, turned on her heels and marched out of the pool house.

Muttering a curse, Logan only hesitated a few seconds before he went after her. "Ronnie, wait."

Already having rounded half of the pool, she stopped and looked back, still anything else than pleased.

Shit.

"Look…" Logan started to say, but then his voice trailed off.

She waited, an eyebrow rising.

He sighed. "I'm sorry. I… it's just…" He broke off and shook his head. "Come back," he then told her and turned abruptly to go back inside.

A minute later, he felt her coming back in, even with his back towards her, as he grabbed a coke for himself out of the not so small mini bar.

"May, may, I have to say, your hosting skills have seriously deteriorated. Then again, I doubt that guys like Dick would ever notice that."

"Want something?" Logan asked, ignoring her dib. Well, he did send her a little glare as he looked back at her, but that was about it.

She nodded at the coke in his hand. "Coke is fine."

With a shrug, Logan threw the can in his hand over to her and then retrieved another one that he opened. Taking a long sip, he leaned against the counter. "You wanted to talk? Found out anything?"

Opening her can as well, Veronica sat down onto one of the big black leather chairs. Well, onto the rim of it. Her bag slid from her shoulder to come to a rest beside her feet. "Not much yet. I've talked to Duncan and Weevil though and my snooping around the case should now be covered."

Logan snorted. "Yeah, I've heard as much."

Veronica glanced at him curiously. "Duncan?"

"Who else?" His eyes narrowed down on her. "But you know, the first time we talked and he confessed to have engaged your help, he was pretty cool about it. Funny thing is that when we've met a lunch again, only two hours later, he suddenly was anything but cool. He was spitting mad. At me. Any idea how that comes?" he asked, never leaving her out of his eyes.

He hadn't understood why Duncan had blown up at him all of a sudden – until he had remembered that Duncan's last class had been with Veronica. Journalism. Somehow he just couldn't think that this was a coincidence.

Sure enough, Ronnie blushed a little. "Uh… well, I may have asked him if he thought that you had perhaps set up Weevil and taken the money."

"And why exactly would you ask something like that? We've already cleared that last night." His eyes turned to slits. "Or did you just want to check on me?" he wanted to know, dangerously low.

"No. But I needed to ask someone about you for credibility and Duncan was the obvious choice. He is your best friend," Veronica though said softly and her eyes searched his. "And he assured me that he didn't think that you've invited Weevil just to humiliate him. He didn't seem so sure though if you haven't grabbed the opportunity."

Logan looked away, his jaw clenching. Fuck, that hurt. It had already hurt this afternoon when Duncan had asked if Logan had taken the money. When he had blamed him to have gone over to the dark side, to having become a jackass. When he had said that he was through with him. And it still hurt. He forced himself to laugh. "Ah, so I guess I'm back on your suspect list now, huh?" he asked bitterly.

"No."

Her soft answer made his head snap back to her, frowning. "What?"

"I know you haven't done it," she told him calmly.

His frown deepened. "Why?" he asked after a moment.

Smiling, she shrugged. "Because you'd have to be incredibly stupid to pull something like that and while I know you've done quite the stupid things in your life, you're not that stupid. Because all the reasons you listed yourself last night are true. Weevil doesn't mean enough to you to go out of your way like that. Because you don't need the money. Because you would never have enlisted my help if you had." She waved at the room. "Because otherwise, you wouldn't have turned this room upside down in order to find the money." She looked back at him, her eyes soft. "Because that's not like you," she finished quietly.

Suddenly, his throat felt suspiciously tight and he tore his eyes away from hers, swallowing. How did it come that Ronnie of all people, the girl he had tormented for over a year, harshly, believed in him like obviously not even his best friend did? It was seriously wrong, on so many levels, but somehow, he wasn't even that surprised. The old Ronnie had been like that, believing into people if they deserved it or not. He had had the impression that with the new Ronnie, this was pretty much exactly the other way around. You had to earn her believe in you. But apparently, she made a few exceptions – because even though they had formed a truce and were back on the road of friendship, he sure as hell had done nothing to deserve this.

And why did this mean so much to him anyway, damn it?

"Logan?"

He looked back at her, if somewhat reluctantly.

"What happened to you and Duncan?" she asked, very gently.

Logan's hand fisted. This was none of her business. And he didn't want to talk about that. But… she was probably the only person who would understand. His knuckles started to stand out white as he stared over her head, giving a small shrug. "We just… changed I guess," he said after a moment, his eyes moving back to meet hers. "After Lilly… well, you've seen how he has been. He barely was coherent. It was as if he was gone along with Lilly." He shook his head. "Not that I've been much better. For a while, Celeste and Jake didn't allow anyone to see him, not even me and honestly, I didn't fight that too much. It just hurt too much to be there, to see him. Then, one day he came back to school. I hadn't known it, had been as surprised as everyone to see him back at school. But… I dunno, he has been so…"

"Emotionless? Robot-like?" Veronica supplied softly.

He nodded, his eyes never leaving hers. "Exactly. I've tried to coax him out of that shell, but he hardly ever showed a reaction. I think Celeste has him on anti-depressives. Or had it. He has changed lately, become more of his old self, ever since beginning of this school year. Slowly, but always a bit more."

It was her turn to nod. "Yeah, I've noticed that too. He started to laugh again, smile. You think he's off the anti-depressives?"

"It would be an explanation, wouldn't it be?" Logan asked back and sighed. "You know, yesterday, at the poker night, he really had been like the Duncan from before and I was happy to see that. I still am. But… it still isn't the same anymore and certainly not between us. There's this gap that we can't seem to cross anymore. He's still my best friend but…" He shook his head, looking away as he asked himself why the hell he was telling all this, to Veronica no less. Things, he had refused to think about, to acknowledge at all.

Then again, that had always been one of Ronnie's abilities. To get people to talk to her, if they wanted to or not. She would just sit there and look at you with her big, warm eyes, shining with understanding and before you knew it, you were spilling your gut out to her. Apparently, she still had that ability.

"But things are still changed and with everything that had happened, you just can't trust him anymore like you used to?" Veronica asked and looked away. "Yeah, I know that feeling."

Upon hearing the slight bitterness, Logan's gaze settled back onto Ronnie, taking in the stiff way she suddenly held herself, the squared shoulders, the closed off face and eyes. "Ronnie…"

She bristled, relaxing a bit, but only so much that he could feel the air around them shift, loose the seriousness, turning back to normal. Whatever normal was. He sure as hell didn't know anymore.

"So… if you haven't taken the money and no one had left with it, like Weevil seemed to be pretty sure about," she gave him a look that told him that she knew about the forced strip Weevil had made them all do in order to make sure that none of them had bagged the money, "and apparently, no one has hidden it around here," she pointed once again at the ransacked pool house, "then where do you figure has the money vanished to?"

Taking a deep breath, Logan slowly exhaled it and then smirked. "Ronnie, if I know that, you really thing you would be here? I think that's your job to find out."

"Sure, but no one knows this place better than you. So you tell me what is possible and what not," she pointed out.

Logan thought about that for a moment, before pushing away from the counter and coming over to flap down into the chair beside Veronica. "While I admit that you have a point there, I fear I can't help you. Between me and Weevil, everything I can think of is covered. It should have been impossible for that money to leave this room without our knowledge. Yet, it still is gone. And I have no idea how."

Thinking about his words for a moment, Veronica finally settled back more comfortably in her chair as well. "Okay, but what about the who? You and Weevil are out. And so is Duncan, I think we pretty much agree on that one, don't we?" Logan nodded. "So that leaves Sean and Connor Larkin. You know them better than me. Who do you think has done it?"

"I'd say neither of them. Or both of them. It just doesn't make sense either way. None of them needs the money, I mean, they have far more than me or Duncan. Sean's an ass, but Connor's an idiot. Sean's sneakier, smarter and honestly, I can't believe Connor's smart enough to pull off something like that. But then…" Logan hesitated.

"What?" Ronnie immediately probed.

He looked at her, smirking. "Well, let's just say I think Connor has a little problem." He sucked up breath harshly and wriggled his eyebrows at her. "If you get what I mean."

"Drugs? Connor Larkin is a junkie?" Veronica asked, unbelieving.

Logan shrugged. "Oh believe me, Connor's quite human and not that great of an exemplar of our species."

"You don't like him," Veronica stated after a moment of scrutinizing him.

"I sure am no fan of him," Logan answered lightly.

"Then why invite him at all?"

"Why was Weevil there?" Logan countered and shook his head. "Connor overheard me talking to Sean on the phone about the poker game and more or less invited himself. As Dad had been present as well and found it a great idea for Connor and I to hook up again, I had little choice than to let him come. Besides," he grinned at her, "why not? I figured he would be easy to relieve of his money and that much had been true."

Veronica smiled, but said nothing about that. Instead, she turned back to business. "Okay. I'll see what I can find out. I'll speak with them both and hopefully, I'll have an answer for you soon."

"Wow, are we confident or what?" Logan teased her, amused by her attitude.

"Well, I can't help it that I'm this simple fantastic modern Nancy Drew," Veronica retorted, grinning.

"And how does Nancy figure she can get to Connor in order to talk to him? While I think he has as much acting talent as Britney, there are people around who actually like the crap he's doing, along with quite a security crew to keep annoying little blond ones like you away from him," Logan pointed out, cockily.

Her smile sweetened and she leaned forward to flutter her eyelashes at him, her eyes sparkling. "I'm sure you're right about that and a good thing that is. Fortunately though, I know this certain person, you may know him? Son of a movie star, knowing all the right guys to get me onto the set of Connor Larkin's newest film project in which, imagine that, his father also stars. Ring any bells?"

Fighting back a laugh, Logan merely smiled. "Maybe," he acknowledged, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "But what makes you think that this guy, as extraordinary as he is, would do that?"

"Well, considering as he was the one who asked for my help in this matter and is the one who wants a certain egg back until Christmas I have the feeling that he'll just be thrilled to help me out a little," she told him, winking at him.

This time, Logan didn't bother to fight the laugh that burst out of him. Rolling his eyes, he took out his phone and punched in the familiar number. It got picked up after the second ring. "Kev? Hey man, it's Logan Echolls."

"Logan, up to trouble again?" Kev asked, knowingly.

Logan laughed. Kevin handled his father's security for almost ten years now. Therefore, he knew Logan pretty well. "Not too much, this time, Kev. Hey listen, I've got this friend here who needs to talk to Connor. Can you let her pass for me?"

"Her, huh? What happened, Logan? Since when do you need to shovel girls in to come see the stars before you get into their pants?" Kev asked, laughing.

"Oh believe me, that's nothing like it," Logan protested, his eyes sliding to Veronica who listened with interest and the pure thought of him and her made him chuckle. "You got it _so_ wrong. I just owe her a favor."

"Okay, okay, if you say so," Kev relented but Logan suspected that he didn't really believe him. "So, what's her name?"

"Veronica Mars," Logan told him.

"With F?"

Rolling his eyes, Logan shook his head. Really, which sane person would ever write Veronica with F? "No man, V! V as in virgin," he added, unconsciously using a comparison he had loved to use, back when they had been friends. Realizing that, he quickly glanced at Ronnie, but she had turned away, studying some of the books on the shelf behind her.

"Okay, she can come anytime she wants. Connor's not on the set tomorrow though, so she might want to come today," Kev told him.

"Good, I'll pass that to her. Thanks man, I owe you one," Logan said.

"Yeah, you do. But I'll just add it to the dozen favors you already owe me," Kev answered nonchalantly and then the line went already dead.

Logan closed his phone and put it away before looking back to Ronnie, seeing that she was facing him once again. "You're in. Connor's only on the set today though, apparently he has a free day tomorrow."

"Thanks," she nodded. "I'll head over later then."

"You know where it is?" Logan asked.

"Same place as where they shot 'Beyond The Breaking Point?'"

He nodded.

"Yeah, I remember," she said with a nod.

Right. He had taken her to the set once, back then. Not because she had asked to, she'd never have done that, but because he had known that this big shot photographer would come to make a coverage and he had also known that Veronica was this really huge fan of that guy, Niko Jakuzo. Jakuzo, a fairly nice man for being famous, hadn't minded at all to have a fan gushing over him for once and had even allowed Ronnie to follow him around all day, carrying his tripod. She had been in Heaven for two weeks over it. And full of a gratitude that had manifested in him finding a different bakery every day in his locker for those two weeks.

Duncan had been jealous as hell and Logan couldn't blame him. Veronica could bake, that much was for sure.

Involuntarily, Logan had to smile at the memory. He probably would never forget how her face had lit up with instant joy and elation, once she had finally understood why Logan had intercepted her on her way to school to whisk her away to his father's set, without warning and not listening to one word of protest when she had realized that he wasn't heading to school.

Yeah, that had been a good day.

Precious past.

Shaking his head to clear his head, he sat forward, starring down, twirling the can in his hands. "Has Duncan told you about his notebook?" he asked hesitantly.

"You mean his journal? Yeah," she grumbled and, looking up, Logan had to smile at the scowl on her face. "One could think that he'd have the sense to keep a journal like every other people instead of putting it out there where every idiot has access to it."

"I'm pretty sure everything is password protected," Logan reasoned.

"Please, who doesn't know someone for whom that hardly is any problem nowadays?" Ronnie snorted but then her eyes settled on Logan. "Any particular reason you've brought this up?"

He said nothing and just held her eyes.

At first, her eyebrows rose, then, as realization dawned, she made a face. "Logan… I don't know. This doesn't feel right."

"You think I like the thought of it?" Logan spat, but then breathed in deeply. "But be serious: if it wasn't Duncan, you'd jump at the opportunity, wouldn't you?"

Her face said it all. "But it is Duncan. His diary."

"Yeah, but do we really have a choice?" Logan shook his head. "I probably hate this idea even more than you, I mean, this is my best friend since kindergarten, but… we need to find out what had been going on that night and there's a realistic chance that Duncan perhaps has mentioned something about it in that journal of his. And the sooner we can clear him of your ridiculous suspicions, the sooner we can concentrate on finding the real bastard who has done this to Lilly."

She sighed and gave a tight nod, but before she could say anything, Logan's father walked in. "Hey son, have you seen… Jeez, what has happened to this place? Did a Hurricane pass through," he asked, looking around with narrowed eyes.

Tensing involuntarily, Logan jumped up. "Dad… uh… Sorry, I've been looking for something. I'll have it picked up."

"You better have," his father nodded. "Anyway, I'm looking for the Fabergé Egg I'm giving your mother for Christmas. You didn't happen to see it, did you?"

Nervously, Logan looked around, running a hand through his hair. "Uh…no, Dad, sorry. But…"

At that moment, Veronica, so far out of eyesight to his father because her seat had been facing with its back to him, got up and walked over to come to a stand beside Logan. "Mr Echolls, hi," she cheerfully greeted Logan's father, smiling big.

"Veronica…" his father slowly greeted her, unable to hide his surprise. "Well… haven't seen you in a while." He looked at Logan, back to Veronica, then back to Logan. "So, you two have – rekindled your friendship?" he asked carefully.

Veronica glanced at him, making it clear that she would let Logan answer that. Too bad he was pretty much at a loss of words now. "Kind of," he finally mumbled after his father started frowning.

His father stared between them for a moment longer, but then smiled. "I'm glad to hear that. We sure missed you, Veronica, especially Logan here. Well, I guess I'll leave you kids alone then. Veronica, my best wishes to your father. It's been good to see him again as well."

She nodded as Logan's dad turned away, but then she stopped him. "Oh, before I forget!" She quickly went back to the chair and grabbed the envelope she had brought with her. Smiling apologetically, she stepped to his father and held it out to him. "Dad asked me to bring these papers by so your wife can sign them."

"Sure, I'll pass them to her," his father nodded and took the envelope. "Okay, but now I really should get back before Lynn hunts me down for sneaking out." His eyes slid back to Logan. "Don't forget to have this place cleaned up, son."

"I won't," Logan answered quietly.

His father gave a last nod before leaving. Watching him vanish, Logan forced himself to relax again. Only then did he glance at Veronica. It hadn't gone past him that she had jumped up to distract his father from the missing egg. To help him out. He took a deep breath – and let it out without saying anything.

"Well, I should get going as well if I want to make it to LA in time to catch Connor," Veronica said after a moment, emptying the can and throwing it into the basket. Wordlessly, Logan watched as she went back to the chair to get her back and finally, come to a stop in front of him. "Thanks for the coke," she said quietly.

Logan stared at her for a moment, then shrugged. "No problem," he answered as quietly.

She nodded, adjusting the bag on her shoulder. "I hope I've got some answers for you by tomorrow. I'll let you know."

Crossing his arms in front of his chest, Logan nodded. Veronica's gaze lingered for a moment longer on him before she turned and started to leave.

"Ronnie?"

She stopped and looked back at him.

"Thanks," he said softly, seriously.

Her smile nearly blinded him. "What are friends for?" she retorted, lightly, but there was nothing but sincerity in her eyes.

He breathed in sharply. Up until now, this moment she declared herself to be his friend again, he hadn't know how much he had wanted to hear that, ever since his rage towards her had vanished and had left him empty. Now, in a rush, the emptiness was filled back up and over spilling with old feelings he once had held for Veronica, friendship, companionship, trust, gratitude, love. For a moment, he had to close his eyes, so overwhelming it was.

"Ronnie?" he chocked out.

Already having proceeded on her way out, Ronnie turned back to him once again, eyebrows high.

Their eyes met and he let her see his, unguarded. She grew very silent. "It's been good to have you back here," he told her quietly. "Perhaps, you should come over more often again? Friends do that, I think, you know?"

Her face lit up, just like it had done all those years back when he had taken her to see Niko Jakuzo and her eyes took on a warm shimmer. He saw her swallowing, before she smiled, nodded. "Yeah, I heard this rumor as well. And I guess I could come by, once in a while. Just know it's only for all those satellite programs you receive. And the Pay TV of course."

"Of course," Logan replied dryly. "Never would have thought otherwise anyway. I know what a TV junkie you are after all."

She chuckled. "Well, never made a secret about that," she said and turned away.

Nope, that she hadn't. "Hey, do me a favor?" he called after her.

Stopping just before she'd vanish around the corner, she looked back a last time.

He grinned evilly. "Please be the annoying little pest you can so wonderfully be to Connor."

Amused, she gave him a mock salute. "I see what I can do."

Thus said, she definitely left.

Grinning, Logan turned and stepped back into the pool house. Taking a look around, he sighed and took out his phone. He'd better see to it that this mess was being taken care off. Once he had placed the call to the cleaning service which had promised to arrive within the next hour he flipped down in front of the screen again to resume his game.

And somehow, he wasn't able to stop smiling anymore.

* * *

_Good news. See you at lunch. Pizza. Mushroom, pepperoni, ham, extra cheese and bacon. R._

With both of his eyebrows high up in the sky, Logan stared at the text message he had just received, geometry forgotten, wavering between being amused and being annoyed at the nerve of her. How did Ronnie figure they could meet for lunch anyway? As far as he knew the plan was still to act as if they still couldn't stand each other. And now she wanted to meet him for lunch? And she expected him to buy her a pizza?

Okay, so they were back to being friends. And yeah, she was doing him a favor and had never asked for a penny so he guessed the least he could do was buy her a pizza. Still… It felt an awful lot like an order and he didn't bow well to orders, especially when they came from tiny blond pixies barely half his weight.

None the less, Logan found himself paying for a couple of pizzas, one of them with mushroom, pepperoni, ham, extra cheese and a ton of bacon, all the way inwardly shaking his head at himself. The cartons balancing on one hand, he turned to gaze over the lunch area. Of course, no Veronica in sight.

What now? She had only said she'd meet him at lunch, not where. In the end, he figured he'd just go sit at his usual table and she could see how she wanted to get to her pizza without getting anyone suspicious.

Sean and Duncan were already sitting at their table and Logan hesitated only a moment before putting the cartons onto the table and sitting down beside his best friend. He could feel Duncan tense and a glare immediately followed. Looked like he hadn't cooled down yet. For a moment, it looked as if Duncan would get up and leave but then he merely clenched his jaw and looked away, pointedly.

It still hurt. But today, it somehow didn't sting as much as it had stung the day before. If Duncan wanted to act like an ass and be angry with him, fine. He would see how wrong he had been, once Ronnie cleared everything up and then Logan would enjoy seeing him squirm when he came to apologize. Perhaps, it was petty, but when his best friend thought that he'd steal and calls him a jackass, then he had a goddamn right to be petty.

Sean sighed exasperated and shook his head. "Will you guys kiss and make up already?"

Smirking, Logan mockingly blew a kiss at Duncan beside him, who ignored him and instead reached for the pizza cartons, opening them. He stilled though after he had opened the second box, staring at the pizza as if it was something he'd never seen before.

"Hey man, what's with you?" Sean asked, helping himself to a piece of the first pizza, ham, tomatoes, cheese, pineapple and mushrooms.

Slowly, Duncan turned to Logan, eyebrows furrowed. "What's this?" he demanded to know.

Innocently, Logan shrugged. "Pizza?"

"With bacon?" Duncan asked incredulous. "Mushrooms, ham, pepperoni, cheese and _bacon_?"

And suddenly, his mistake dawned on Logan. Shit. Shit, shit, shit. Looking at the pizza in front of him, he grabbed a piece. "So what? I like bacon. I was in the mood."

"In the mood?" Duncan asked, even more incredulous.

Sean, looking from one to the other, frowned. "Why? What is wrong with bacon?"

Neither Logan nor Duncan paid him any attention.

"Yeah, in the mood. Got a problem with that?" Logan replied, defensively.

"Come on, Logan. We haven't had one like this since…" at that point, Duncan broke off and looked away, his jaw clenched once again.

Logan pretended to not know what Duncan had been going to say. Since Ronnie had used to sit with them at lunch and the last time they had had pizza before Lilly had been killed, perhaps a week beforehand or so. Thing is that this was Ronnie's favorite pizza combination. Not that she was very difficult, she more or less ate everything, but she had this tick that any real good pizza always had to have bacon on it, no matter what else. That was going so far that he couldn't think of pizza with bacon without automatically thinking about Ronnie. So, naturedly, he had refused to eat pizza with bacon ever since her betrayal. And now, suddenly, here he was, having ordered a pizza with bacon, out of the blue. No wonder Duncan was suspicious. And it sure as hell wouldn't help that probably, Ronnie was going to show up any moment now.

Shit. How could he have forgotten about this? Of course it was Ronnie's fault. After all, she had ordered this special pizza. But then, he didn't have to really go and order just that pizza, did he?

"So Sean, heard you're missing your Rolex?" Logan changed the topic. Perhaps not the best change of topic ever, considering that Ronnie was supposed to show up soon just about that. But he hadn't been able to come up with anything better.

Sean made a face. "Yeah. Thanks for that, by the way."

"Me? I think you confuse me with someone. A little tip, the other guy is ugly, bald and wears a leather jacket he probably found in someone's trash," Logan replied, smirking.

"Ah, but you were the one hosting it and the one who invited that lowlife. So I held you responsible," Sean elaborated.

Logan laughed. "You better don't expect any money from me, 'cause that's not going to happen."

"Here you are," a perky voice Logan knew only too well interrupted any further exchange of pleasantries between Sean and Logan. Looking up, he found Veronica standing beside him, smiling smugly, Weevil behind her. "So… I have good news and bad news," she continued before any of them got over his surprise that Veronica Mars had the nerve to come up to their table.

"The good news: I know who took the money," she declared, still smug as hell. "The bad news: I _know_ who took the money."

Before Logan could help himself, he chuckled. God, she was cute when she was so full of herself.

"Hmm, pizza!" Her smile brightening, Ronnie reached over to take herself a slice of the bacon pizza and then wriggled her admittedly small butt onto the bench beside Logan, forcing him to slide a bit to the side, bumping into Duncan. For the first time since Veronica had arrived, he glanced at his best friend who seemed to have stiffened all the way up, his eyes lingering solely on the blond head of the girl now sitting beside Logan. Slowly, Duncan got up and moved to the other side of the table, facing Veronica.

When she still didn't continue, Sean apparently grew too impatient. "Well? Who's it been?" he asked what was probably on all their minds.

Rolling up a string of cheese around her finger, she looked at him. "Oh, I can't tell you now. Where would be the fun in that?" Her mouth closed around the cheese-covered finger and with a barely audible sucking noise she drew her finger out of her mouth, free of cheese now and she sighed heavily. Growing seriously uncomfortable, Logan shifted slightly, looking away from her mouth. He noticed though that he wasn't the only one to slightly shift. Duncan did too. And so did Weevil. Well, looked like they were all healthy teenaged boys. "Besides, Connor isn't here and I think he definitely has a right to be here as well," she added, her tongue flickering out to lick the grease off her finger.

Logan shifted some more, frowning. What the hell was the matter with him? Ronnie was his friend. Even with her being as hot as she was, he shouldn't be that affected by… Wait. Had he just thought that Veronica Mars was _hot_?

"And when are you going to tell us then?" Sean wanted to know, frowning.

"Tonight," she answered, nonchalantly, reaching for another slice of pizza.

"Tonight?" Logan repeated, frowning.

Veronica grinned at him. "Filled with holiday spirit, you will host another poker game tonight."

His eyebrows raising, he shook his head. "Sorry, no can do. Mom's Christmas party is tonight."

"Well I guess then we won't have to worry about provisions, will we?" she simply responded and took another big bite from her slice. "Here's how it will go. Tonight, we'll meet all together once again in the Echolls' pool house where I'll entertain you with my brilliance and will tell you who has stolen the money. Then, we'll play, me taking the place of whoever has done it. I mean, I doubt that any of you wants to risk to play with out little thief again."

She… what?

Logan once again shook his head and pushed the carton with 'her' pizza away from her. "Not going to happen, Ronnie," he told her very clearly.

Her eyes looked into his, sparkling dangerously. "No? And here I thought you all want your stuff back?"

"Yeah," Weevil spoke up, amused and sat down beside Duncan, helping himself to a slice of Ronnie's pizza as well. "If I get my five grand, some things could magically reappear."

Ronnie nodded eagerly, her eyes still locked with Logan's. "Yeah, like that egg?" She turned to look at Duncan. "The notebook?" Her gaze traveled over to Sean. "Your Rolex?" She focused back on Logan and shrugged. "But if you don't want them back anymore, fine. It's not as if either of you can't afford to replace those things easily after all. And Weevil has his money as well. And I will live with the satisfaction that our thief knows that I know that it was him, meaning that I now have him in my hand. So no problem, I guess that's been it then. Enjoy the party, Logan." She started to rise slowly from the bench.

Deafening silence as the guys exchanged wary and defeated gazes with each other.

"Do you even know how to play poker?" Logan finally grumbled, glaring up at her.

"No." Smiling brightly, she put a steadying hand onto his shoulder and leaned past him to grab herself another slice of pizza – the last one. Once straightened up, she grabbed a napkin as well and then looked at each of them. "But I figure it can't be that hard if all you idiots play it. So guys, I guess I see you tonight. Thanks for the pizza!"

Leaving the boys speechless, she practically bounced away. Laughing, Weevil got up, not before helping himself to a second slice of pizza though, and followed her without saying anything else. Not that that was really necessary.

The little pixie had plainly outmaneuvered them.

* * *

Looking around to check that no one was watching them, Logan quickly walked up to Veronica and pulled her into the girls' bathroom in a matter of seconds.

"Hey!"

He pushed the stopper in and then turned, crossed his arms over his chest and just glared silently at Veronica.

"What?"

He continued to glare.

Sighing, Veronica put her bag onto the counter and looked back at Logan. "What's wrong, Logan?"

"Care to explain me what that had just been about?" he asked, tensely.

"What?" she asked innocently.

Not amused, Logan shook his head. "I thought we're in this together. Yet, you totally went over my head with all this shit. The least you could have done was to warn me."

Veronica dropped the innocent act and crossed her arms as well. "Would you have agreed to let me handle it the way I wanted to?"

"Of course not! I can't, Veronica. Not tonight," Logan hissed.

"Come on, Logan, do you really want to tell me that you'd rather stand around and shake dozens of hands at your mom's party than play poker with the guys?" Veronica countered.

"That doesn't matter. Mom's crazy about these Christmas parties of hers, you know that. And guess what, she expects her son to be there, grinning like a reindeer and complete the picture of the perfect family, as does Dad. Have you any idea what trouble I'll be in when I come to them today to tell them that sorry, I can't come, I have a poker night going and oh hey, it will be hosted in our pool house?" Logan ranted.

She was silent for a moment, looking down. Finally, she looked back up at Logan. "Is it really that much of a problem?"

Exasperated, Logan gave her a pointed look.

"Well, perhaps we can do it tomorrow then," she reluctantly admitted.

Finally. That was what he had wanted to hear. But… why did she look so dejected about moving the game to tomorrow?

"Why are you so adamant to have it today anyway?" he heard himself asking before he even realized what he was doing.

She sighed but said nothing. And she avoided looking at him.

"Ronnie?"

"There are a few reasons," she said quietly.

Rolling his eyes, he fixed her with his stare. "Which are?"

At last, she looked back at him. "For one, I figured that we'll move to the party at one point or another, to grab something to eat or so."

"So?"

"So I hoped I could get Jake to talk to me for a moment. If I remember correctly he almost always draws back to make a business call once or twice," she told him hesitantly.

Logan frowned. That much was still true, but… "Why do you want to talk to him?"

"Because I have a few questions for him and I figured this may be the best opportunity to catch him alone for a moment," she answered, not that that told Logan much more.

"About Lilly? You really think he's going to tell you anything?" Logan asked, incredulous.

"No. Not about Lilly. It's…" She bit her lip, turning her head. "It's something personal, okay, and can we please just leave it at that?"

Personal? What on Earth would Veronica have to talk about something personal with Jake Kane? But taking in her stiff posture, he decided to let it be at that – at least for the moment.

"And that's all? Because honestly, Ronnie, the chance to catch him alone are rather slim and I doubt that this is the sole reason why you absolutely want the game to take place tonight," Logan said, watching her closely. "Why did you come up with this ridiculous idea about taking the thief's place, anyway?"

When she glanced back at him it was with a mixture of annoyance and resignation. "Because Christmas is around the door, Logan, and because I figured I deserve something for all the work I've done to find out who has taken the money. And because there are not many opportunities for me to easily come by to five thousand dollars." Something flickered over her face and he was almost sure that it was shame. Fuck. "Because I need every cent I can get my hands on if I ever want to go to College. And because I have this perfect Christmas present for Dad, but guess what, I can simply not afford it but I want to give it to Dad so badly because he so deserves a break after all the shit that had happened since Lilly's death. Unless I can win that money and it needs to be tonight because tomorrow is the last day that I can sign Dad up for his present. Is that enough for you now? Did I humiliate me enough in front of you now?"

Shit.

"Ronnie…"

Her eyes flamed up. "Don't you dare to pity me!"

"I don't," Logan insisted, firmly.

She turned away. "Yeah right."

Uncrossing his arms, Logan pushed away to go stand behind her. Tentatively, he touched her arm. "I'm not, Ronnie. You know me better than that. You not being rich has never been an issue and it never will be."

"It sure hasn't stopped you from exploiting it time and time again for over a year," she remarked, bitterly.

His hand fell away from her arm and he looked down for a second, before meeting her eyes via the mirror. "Like said. You know me. I use whatever I can. But that was then. I was angry and we were enemies. But we aren't enemies anymore. We're friends again." He shook his head. "Why did you make it so complicated anyway? I asked you for help, you could just bill me."

"Please, as if I'd ever take money from you," she said, frowning.

"Well, this is a case, isn't it? And from what I've heard you have no problem to bill the others," Logan pointed out.

She turned around and met his eyes. "But the others are not my friends. I don't take money for doing a friend a favor." She shrugged. "Besides, my rates, even if I bill you the 09er rate, will never get me five grand."

It was ridiculous, but Logan was honestly touched by the reasons why she hadn't billed him for helping him. There was this warmth again that started to fill him. He swallowed. "Well, I guess I see you tonight then."

Surprised, her eyes widened. "But… what about your parents?"

Logan shrugged. "Please Ronnie, this is me. What's a little trouble more or less? Besides, it won't be so bad." He hoped. "I'll be there when the party starts, shake hands dutifully, make sure I'm being seen and then no one will notice that I've sneaked away to go play poker, especially when we show up from time to time to get some canapés."

He grinned at her as he moved back to the door and peeked out. No clear cost. Closing the door again, he turned back to Ronnie. "Oh, by the way, Nancy, next time you blackmail me to order you pizza you might not want to order your favorite type or anything else with bacon on it. I tell you, Duncan got very suspicious when he saw it and I doubt that you then showing up helped his suspicion."

She stared at him, flabbergasted. "I… I didn't think either of you would remember how I liked my pizza," she said slowly, frowning.

Logan shook his head. "Ronnie, we may be guys and yeah, such details aren't that important for us but really, you think we can forget four years of bacon pizza obsession?" Once again he checked outside. This time it looked like he could slip out unnoticed. "See you at nine. Don't be late. And tell Weevil to bring the egg."

Not waiting for a response, he slipped out the bathroom, grinning. Damn, it felt good to have the last word for once.

* * *

Logan didn't believe in astrology. But seriously, this night, something must have been up with the cosmos. Some strange planet constellation that caused the world to go totally whacko. It was the only explanation.

No other way was it possible that Sean of all people had turned out to be the one who had taken the money, admittedly pretty cleverly. Because apparently, he may live in the most expensive house in the 09er district but only because he was the butler's son. How was this possible? Sean always had been a 09er and while Logan didn't especially like him he had never, not once doubted that he was what he said he was. And now it turned out that no, he never had been that and actually had always lied to all of them. Even worse, if Ronnie was right with his criminal record, chances were high that Sean probably hadn't stolen for the first time from his 'friends'.

As if that wasn't bad enough, they now got their asses beaten at poker – by no one else than one Veronica Mars. Okay, so he may have personally hoped that she'd win but that hadn't meant that he wouldn't play for anything else than to win. And he had been pretty sure that no matter how confident Ronnie seemed about winning, there was no way she could ever win. Oh, how wrong he had been. As it turned out, Ronnie didn't just know how to play poker, she actually was a pro at it and mercilessly won one hand after the other for over an hour straight now. Where the hell had she learned to play like that? And why the hell hadn't he known about that? Because he was pretty sure that Ronnie hadn't learned to play like that in just this past year. She played and handled the cards like she had played poker all her life.

They laid down the cards and all four guys sighed simultaneously as they saw that the tiny blond one had won once again. Smiling, Veronica collected together her chips and added them to the large pile in front of her.

"You must be really unlucky in love," Connor muttered darkly, having lost all his money with this last hand now.

Ronnie merely snorted while Logan glared over to Connor. He'd better watch what he was saying there.

"Okay girl, spill it," Weevil spoke up, leaning back in his chair, his eyes on her, unwavering. "Where did a skinny white girl like you learn to poker like that?"

She smiled at him, still busy to pile up her chips. "Hello? Sheriff's daughter, remember?"

When the guys frowned at her, not catching up, she chuckled. "When you see cops coming together weekly to play poker in TV shows, that's not just a ruse. They actually do that. I've learned to poker before I've learned to bicycle."

Logan's frown deepened. "Yet, you never wanted to play before."

Her gaze wandered over to him and she started to grin. "Because, Logan, where would have been the fun in that? It just was too easy to win against either of you and I don't like to waste my time. For five grand though I do an exception," she told him awfully patiently.

He held her gaze. "I figure," he muttered after a moment and stood up, stretching. "Okay, I need a break. Let's go over to the house. After all, there's a party going on over there."

Soon after, the group had split up and Logan headed directly to the bar, ordering himself a scotch. Waiting, he turned around to let his gaze sweep over the many guests his mom had invited. He spotted Jake Kane vanishing in direction of his dad's office and quickly, he looked for Veronica to signal Jake's leave to her. But when he finally spotted her he wasn't surprised to see that she was already quickly following Jake. For a moment he contemplated going after them as well. After all, for all he knew, Jake could actually be dangerous. In the end though he stayed where he was. Ronnie had said it was something personal. Plus, he really didn't think Jake was capable of hurting Ronnie and if he was, he still doubted he would do anything to her with over hundred people in the next room.

Besides, at that moment, Duncan showed up beside him, looking very uncomfortable and chagrined.

"So…" Duncan slowly said.

"So…" Logan echoed, determined to let Duncan squirm a little. His best friend really should have known him better than to ever think that he had actually taken that money.

"Sean, huh?" Duncan said after a moment.

His scotch finally arriving, Logan nodded. "Looks like."

"Gotta say, never would have suspected him," Duncan continued, growing more and more uncomfortable.

This time, Logan didn't answer and merely took a sip of his scotch.

"Look… I uh…" Duncan stuttered.

Sighing, Logan glanced at him. Okay, letting him squirm was only so much fun. "Yeah."

Upon that, Duncan looked already a bit more relaxed. "I'm sorry, Logan. About… and…"

Logan shrugged. "It's okay, man. It's not that I'm much of an angel."

Duncan laughed, but his eyes were still serious. "So… we're cool?"

"We're cool," Logan confirmed, nodding.

Smiling relieved, Duncan gave him a brotherly slap onto his shoulder and turned to order himself a martini. While waiting, he leaned beside Logan. "Nice party," he commented dryly.

"As ever," Logan answered as dryly.

"Nice game," Duncan continued, more sincere now.

Once again, Logan shrugged. "It's okay."

Duncan glanced at him. "It's nice to have Veronica around again, don't you think?"

Tensing inwardly, Logan smirked. "In case you haven't noticed: Your little ex is stripping us of our money. That trailer park must cost more than I've thought."

Instead of getting angry or annoyed, Duncan just kept staring at him. "You know Logan, you can fool the others, perhaps even yourself, but I won't be so easily fooled."

Logan frowned. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"About you. And Veronica. I don't believe that you hate her as much as you used to. Actually, I even believe that you start to like her again," Duncan told him calmly.

Shit! Logan forced himself to a laugh. "Jeez, DK, you should lay off the booze. You're already hallucinating."

"No, I'm not," Duncan contradicted. "Ever since Veronica cleared your name a while back and you two then started to work on that feature about FABL your behavior towards her changed. Your words and voice have lost the malice. So have hers. You haven't pulled a prank on her in a while either, nor has she. And let's not forget that today, for the first time in a long time, you ordered a pizza with bacon, knowing very well that that's how Veronica likes it. It's a pretty big coincidence that she then showed up like she has, don't you think so too?"

"For heaven's sake, it was just pizza! And Ronnie hasn't a patent or something on pizza with bacon. Plenty of people eat their pizza with bacon!" Logan exclaimed, exasperated.

"Hey, no need to get so defensive, man," Duncan said, holding up his hands. But there was the hint of a smile at the corner of his lips. "I'm glad to see you two finally got over your vendetta. It was about time."

"Duncan, hear my words, Ronnie and I…"

"Ah, and I've noticed you've gone back to almost always refer to her as Ronnie again, something you haven't done in a long while either. It always had been Veronica. Or other things. But almost never Ronnie. While before, it had been always Ronnie and almost never anything else," Duncan interrupted him, the hint of that smile growing stronger.

Fuck! What the hell was Logan supposed to say now to get Duncan off their track? He had not the slightest idea.

The rescue came in form of Jake Kane storming through the crowd to roughly grab his wife on the arm. "What did you do?" he hissed, clearly mad at hell.

Instantly worried, Logan looked into the direction Jake had come from and was relieved to see Ronnie there, unharmed if perhaps a bit pale.

"What?" Celeste gasped, confused, causing Logan to look back at Duncan's parents.

His eyes blazing, Jake leaned forward. "What did you do?" He asked once again and then shook his head. "We're leaving. Come."

"Jake…"

"No Celeste, don't you dare to protest. You have some things to explain to me!" he roared and started to drag her after him, leaving a gasping crowd behind.

Eyes wide, Duncan quickly followed his parents.

Frown in place, Logan stalked over to Ronnie. "What the hell happened?"

"I… I'm not sure," she whispered.

He was about to demand for an elaboration of that when behind him, a woman screamed. And not just a random woman. His mother. Instantly, he swiveled around, just in time to see one of the waitresses drawing back a bloody knife out of his father's stomach and his father staggering back, clutching at the wound, his fingers turning red.

What…

Dimly, he heard Veronica gasp behind him and then she launched herself forward, tackling the waitress to the ground while all he could do was stand there, frozen, and do nothing. Next thing, someone else rushed by him, pushing Logan out of the way. Catching himself, he stared back with horror, at his father, lying on the floor now, in his mother's arms, unconscious, bleeding.

"An ambulance!" his mom cried out. "Someone call for an ambulance!"

Ambulance. Right. Snapping out of his shock, at least partly, Logan reached for his cell, punching in 911. When it finally got picked up, he rambled down their address and he believed he even told them that his father had been stabbed. He wasn't sure anymore. All he remembered was that they said that the ambulance was on its way.

Slowly, he moved forward, knowing that he should go help, do something but at the same time just not able to bring himself to come too close to his father. "Ambulance is on the way," he told his mom, who was crying hysterically now.

"You okay?"

The question puzzled him, infuriated him. Obviously, nothing was okay. But when he turned to give the idiot a piece of his mind he saw that the man hadn't addressed him but Ronnie, standing not far away from him, her eyes wide. Only then grew Logan aware that the man who was holding down the waitress now was no one else than Keith Mars. What was Ronnie's dad doing there?

"I'm fine," Ronnie assured with only a slight tremble in her voice.

Their security people burst into the room, immediately going over to Keith who said something shortly to them. Orders. They took over the waitress and the second Keith could let her go, he rushed over to Logan's dad, looking at the wound.

"Quick, I need something to press onto the wound," he bellowed and unable to resist the order, Logan quickly shrugged out of the chemise he was wearing over his t-shirt and handed it to Keith. Keith took it wordlessly and pressed it onto the wound. Only then did he look up, at Lynn. "Lynn," he called out to her.

Logan's mom didn't react.

"Lynn!" Keith tried it again, sharper this time.

It worked as his mom finally looked up to stare teary eyed at Keith.

"Look at me, Lynn. It's going to be okay. You hear me? Aaron's going to be okay. The wound isn't that deep. It looks worse than it is. We just need to get him to the hospital to have him treated. Okay? Lynn?" he told her with vehemence, his eyes boring into Lynn's. "He's going to be fine."

"Keith…" Logan's mom moaned but then gulped, taking a deep breath. "He's not going to die? You sure?"

Keith nodded. "I'm sure," he assured her and then looked over to one of the security guys. "You, you go make sure that the ambulance has free access to the house."

The guy gave a short nod and then ran out of the door. Slowly, Logan breathed out, shakingly. Suddenly, he felt a small hand slipping into his, squeezing. Startled, he looked to his side, right into two worried green eyes.

"You okay?" she echoed her father's questions of a moment before.

It was still a ridiculous question, but this time Logan didn't mind it so much. His eyes slid back to his dad, the blood pooling on the white floor beneath him and he shook his head. "I… I don't know," he answered softly.

The hold on his hand tightened, but she simply nodded once and otherwise said nothing more. And so they waited for the ambulance to arrive. The people around them started talking, some of the women cried but Logan blended it all out. The only thing he was aware of was Keith, kneeling by his parents, and the warm hand that held his, centered him.

Seemingly an eternity later, they finally heard the sirens of the ambulance and sure enough, shortly thereafter two paramedics marched in. Ronnie tugged at Logan's hand to get him out of their way and he let her, not giving her any resistance. Like in trance he watched as they worked on his father and within minutes, they had him on a stretcher, rolling him out, his Mom hurrying after them. They got into the ambulance, the doors were slammed close and they drove away, the sirens blazing again, and he still hadn't moved.

"Logan? Logan!"

Only when he couldn't hear the sirens anymore did Logan slowly look back at Veronica.

"Go after them," she quietly told him. "You know you want to."

Did he? He mused about her words for a moment. Yeah. Yeah, he wanted to, but…

"The party…"

She shook her head. "Don't worry about that. Dad and the police will take care of that. And your staff will see to the rest. Come on, now. I'll drive you."

He needed a moment to process her words, but when he did, he shook his head. "No… no, I'll drive myself."

"No Logan, I won't let you drive, not like this. Besides, your car is probably parked in anyway," she protested emphatically. "Wait here. I just go tell Dad. Don't move."

Before he could say anything else, her hand let go of his, slipped out of his, and numbly, he watched her go over to Keith, talking with him. Keith looked as if he was going to protest, but she shook her head and he looked over to Logan, staring at him for a long moment, before he finally gave a tight nod and drew her into a bone-crashing hug, whispering something into her ear. Nodding, she freed herself from her father's embrace and already, she was hurrying back to Logan. As soon as she was there, she took hold of his hand once again, this time to drag him after her though.

He simply followed.

* * *

The drive to the hospital was silent. Logan stared out of the window, still trying to grasp what had happened and Ronnie seemed to concentrate on getting them as fast to the hospital as she could.

Fine with him.

He didn't know what he was feeling. He didn't know what he was supposed to be feeling. Overall, all he could feel was numbness. Utterly numbness.

The car stopped. When it was longer than usual for a red light, Logan looked up. They were in front of the hospital emergency entrance.

"Logan, you know I can't stand here forever. You need to get out now. Your dad is probably still in emergency so you should find him and your mom rather quickly," Ronnie urged him, her voice soft.

He stared at the entrance and he just knew that he didn't want to go in there. No way.

At least not alone.

"Come with me," he whispered.

Apparently, he had been too quiet. "What?"

He turned his head away from the hospital and looked pleadingly at her. "Come with me. Don't let me go in there alone," he repeated, not caring one damn bit about how desperate he had just sounded.

Logan had come to hate hospitals, especially the emergency rooms. Though it had been years since the last time someone had to bring him to one, they still brought up bad memories and great repulsion. Because every time he had landed there meant that his Dad had found an ever harsher punishment than before. And once again Logan had to watch how they all turned blind eyes to the obviousness of his injuries, pretending to not see the other signs, the old scars, because they all knew who his father was and certainly the great Aaron Echolls couldn't possibly abuse his own son. No… he hated hospitals with a passion and he wasn't ready to go in there alone now, while part of him couldn't help but be gleeful that finally, his father was the one delivered in.

When he was pretty sure that a very small part of him actually _hoped_ that Keith was wrong. That his dad wasn't going to make it.

What he really wanted was for Ronnie to just pull away again, bringing him somewhere else, anywhere but there.

But that was the one thing he couldn't do. Because his mom was in there too and the way he knew her, she'd be shortly before a nervous breakdown. She needed him, in there with her, keeping her together or at least making sure that she was away from prying eyes when she did break down. So he'd go in, no matter what.

Problem was that he instinctively knew that he needed someone there for _him_ in there. Rather said, he needed Ronnie.

"Please."

Immense relief filled him when she simply turned her head and accelerated, heading to the visitor's parking lot.

* * *

A steaming cup of coffee appeared in front of his nose.

"Here. It probably tastes awful, but it's warm and it's coffee."

Logan looked up and one glance at Ronnie's face told him to not even bother to protest. So he simply took the cup and carefully sipped at it.

Ronnie sat down beside him. "Your mom still with your dad?"

Wordlessly, Logan nodded. Three long hours later and it was certain that his father was going to live. Like Keith had said, the stab wound hadn't been that deep or bad. Like predicted, his mom had barely held it together when he and Ronnie had found her, immediately loosing it altogether upon seeing her son. Logan had done his best to calm her and at least had been able to get her into a secluded room while she let loose with Ronnie standing guard outside. Only after a doctor, the assistant medical director of course, nothing less would do it for Aaron Echolls, had finally come to them and assured them that Logan's father was going to make it had she started to calm down. Well, that and the pills he was pretty sure she had downed on her visit to the bathroom. She had demanded to go see her husband and naturally, no one had protested. Ever since then she had been in his father's room, sitting by his side while he was left sitting around out there, unsure of what to do now.

So he had simply waited. But he was tired of waiting.

Taking another sip of the coffee that indeed tasted awful, Logan looked behind, at Ronnie. "Can you tell me what the fuck has happened tonight?"

That was what had mostly occupied his thoughts for the past hour. Unfortunately, he had had no answers. He knew that his mom had been concerned about some fan post his dad had received lately, so worried that she actually had gone to Keith Mars for help. Logan, as well as his dad, had thought she totally overreacted and that she was crazy to take these threats seriously. Therefore, Logan hadn't really followed what had happened after her visit to Ronnie's dad and no clue if what had happened had anything to do with that or if it was just another lunatic that had attacked his father for whatever reason. Now though, Ronnie had returned from making a call to her dad and he bet she now knew something more about what had happened.

She sighed, looking away. "I don't think we need to talk about that now," she said, evasively.

Logan narrowed his eyes. "Don't you patronize me, Veronica."

"Hmm, do you really think one should use _patron_ize in reference with a female? Shouldn't it rather be _matron_ize?" Ronnie still tried to evade his questions.

"Veronica!" Logan bellowed, lowly. He definitely wasn't in the mood for jokes.

At last, she looked back at him, her eyes full of sorrow. "Okay, okay. That woman, the one who stabbed your father? She's been the one who sent those letters your mom was so worried about as well as the carved pumpkin of your dad's head. Apparently, she was mad because your dad had her fired after…" she stopped speaking, breaking their eye contact.

Logan frowned. "After what?" he demanded to know, furiously thinking why his dad would have someone fired. Of course. He laughed sarcastically. "Wait, let me guess: after he screwed her?"

When her eyes flew back to his, wide with surprise, he laughed even more, shaking his head. "Jeez, Ronnie, no need to be so touchy about that. It's no secret to me that Dad screws everything in a skirt in a five hundred miles radius."

Speechless, she still just stared at him. It actually was kinda funny.

"So this is what this is all about? Dad screwed her and over her and so she decided to kill him?" Once again, he laughed. "Huh. Karma's quite a bitch."

Her expression still flabbergasted, Ronnie slowly nodded. "Yeah, that's more or less it. She was mad about having lost her job because of him and on top of it all, your dad apparently told her he loved her and so… Never underestimate a woman scorned."

"And that bitch believed him?" Amused, Logan chuckled. "No wonder she's crazy."

"Logan…"

He interrupted her with a glare.

They were silent for a while. Eventually though, Ronnie spoke up again. "What about your mom? Does she know as well?" she asked carefully.

For a moment, Logan stared into his coffee, before draining it with one long gulp. "She's ignorant, not stupid," he answered shortly, crumpling the cup into a ball which he threw into the next trash can.

"I see," she said quietly.

He glanced at her and stood up. "You can keep your sympathy to yourself. Mom and I are fine." He nodded outside. "What really will be hell is the every lovely press, certainly already waiting out there. That's just what they love. Scorned ex-bed-bunny of Aaron Echolls invades loving wife's Christmas party, the event of the year, and stabs three times Academy Award winner Aaron Echolls in her blind rage and crazed passion. And that will only be the beginning. I bet with you that within a week, other of Dad's conquest will grab the opportunity and come forward with their little dirty secrets." He shook his head. "We'll be stalked by the press for weeks," he predicted, bitterly.

"I'm sorry," Ronnie simply said, her eyes resting on him as she stood up.

Logan shrugged. "That's our life. Come on, let's go."

He definitely was done waiting.

"Go? What about your mom?" Ronnie asked, startled.

"She won't leave Dad for a while yet. There's no use of us sitting around here any longer. I'm tired and I definitely need something to drink," Logan told her and walked over to the room of his father, poking his head in. Just like he had expected, his parents were both dead to the world. Well, he'd leave a message on his mom's pager later on.

He turned back to Ronnie, grabbed her hand and pulled her after him.

This time, she was the one who followed him willingly.

* * *

"Logan, I really should go home," Ronnie protested but still let Logan lead her to the hidden side entrance to the Echolls' propriety. "Dad's mad enough already. No need to make it any worse by staying out even longer than I already am."

"Jeez, relax Ronnie," Logan told her, rolling his eyes as he punched in the security code to open the door. "A little more or less time won't hurt."

"Says you," she muttered. "May I remind you that Dad owns several guns? Not to mention cuffs."

"As if he's going to use them on you," Logan snorted and gave her a little shove through the door, keeping a steadying hand on her arm though.

"I wouldn't put it past him to use the cuffs," she huffed as she followed him as he hurried through the dark up to the buildings of his home. "What's so important that I absolutely had to come in with you anyway? It's not as if I'm going to drink with you."

He chuckled. "Grumpy a bit, Mars?"

"Well, it's been a long day," she grumbled.

"That it was," Logan acknowledged with a sigh and ushered her into the pool house.

He flipped on the light and then headed straight to the bar, grabbing the next best bottle and took a long dip from the bottle. As the alcohol, Jack Daniels as he registered, burned his way down his throat, he sighed, contently. Now, that was better. Much better. Taking a second gulp, he turned back around, seeing that Ronnie stood in front of the coffee table on which now laid a notebook and a fancy egg.

"Look here: our things magically reappear!" Logan hooted dramatically, walking over. "Wow, imagine that: Paco kept his word. Who'd have ever thought that?"

She looked sideward at him, frowning. "If you ever stop being an arrogant snobbish jerk you'd see that Weevil's not such a bad guy."

Logan snorted and downed another gulp. "Please Ronnie. He's the leader of a biker gang. Don't tell me you fall for his bad-but-not-really-so-bad-boy act too."

Her frown deepened. "Too? And who else exactly did fall for his act as well?"

"As if you don't know!" Logan haunted, rolling his eyes.

Once again, he brought the bottle back to his mouth.

"I don't," she said, frowning even more if that was still possible.

He laughed. "Save it, Ronnie. Lilly told you everything. Everyone knows that. I sure as hell know it."

Her eyebrows shot up. "Lilly?" she sputtered. "_Lilly_? You think… Lilly and _Weevil_?"

Another sip, a long one this time. He glanced back at Ronnie and shrugged. "Really Ronnie, no need to still lie to me. I know. I'm a big boy. I can swallow the truth." He chuckled. "It's not as if she really loved the pool boy. You know and I know why she screwed around with him. Because it had just been perfect to get Jake and Celeste mad."

Ronnie still stared at him as if he had sprouted a second head. "Lilly? And Weevil?"

He frowned, for the first time occurring to him that she actually _hadn't_ known. "You didn't know?" he asked, his eyebrows shooting up to match hers now.

"No!" She shook her head, vehemently. "Are you sure?"

Smirking, he downed another gulp. "A tattoo of her name, in a red heart, flanked by a red rose and a lily, on his shoulder is pretty obvious, don't you think?"

She opened her mouth, then closed it again, her eyebrows coming down, drawn together. "Now a few things start to make sense," she muttered.

"Why didn't you know that?" Logan wanted to know, still frowning at her. Again, he helped himself to more Jack Daniels. "You were her best friend. Lilly told you everything. You should have known."

At that, she glanced back at him. "No…" she said softly. "She didn't tell me everything. Much - but not everything. And she would never have told me about a specific lover."

"Why not?" Logan asked, confused.

She looked at him as if that was something obvious. When he continued to stare at her, she sighed. "Because she knew that I was your friend as well. And she knew that even despite her being my best friend I wouldn't tolerate her cheating on you, stringing you along. Sooner or later I would have told you. And no matter what you think, she loved you. She wanted you. So she was very careful for me not to catch up on what or rather said who she may or may not have done on the side."

Everything else momentarily forgotten, Logan stared at her, flabbergasted. "You… you would have?" he asked, shocked, trying to grasp this concept. He had never believed anything else than that her loyalties lied solely with Lilly and perhaps with Duncan. But surely never with him, at least not as long as it concerned something between the four of them.

"Of course I would have. What did you think? We _were_ friends, Logan, no matter what," she replied, annoyed.

"I…" Unable to look a moment longer into her eyes, Logan turned away from her, downing the rest of the bottle while incredible guilt filled him. And shame. For never having trusted her completely like he should have, for turning against her when he actually would have needed her so much, for ever doubting her. "I… I'm sorry," he whispered. Weak, he knew, but the only thing he actually could say.

She sighed. "Logan… Look, what happened to us, our friendship… we both made mistakes, okay? Big ones. I should have shown you my friendship to you better, as much is obvious by now. And I shouldn't have let you push me away like you did. I knew you were hurt, angry, needed someone to blame. Somehow, I should have gotten through to you, but I didn't even try. I let you down, I can admit that now. Because I hurt too and I was angry as well and for a long while after Lilly's death, I just gave up. And I'm sorry for that as well." She moved around him to stand in front of him, her eyes staring up into his. "But we're here now, aren't we? We got past it." Gently, she pried the now empty bottle out of his grasp and replaced it with her hand, squeezing. "So why don't we just say that we're both sorry for what we did in the past, and remember it, as a warning, but otherwise, simply move forward? Because I'm tired Logan. Tired of having to be careful what to say around you, tired of fighting off the comfortable closeness we once shared and I thought was lost forever to only have it seep back in with surprising easiness. Tired of being alone, despite Dad, despite Wallace, despite Meg and Mac and other new friends all being there for me. They don't know, Logan. They don't understand. They're not you." She took a deep breath. "So please, can we just get it behind us and stop always coming back to it? Mentioning it?"

Usually, Logan had no problem to express himself. Words came easily to him. They were his strength. The best weapon in his arsenal. The best shield. And sometimes, also his biggest handicap because his quick tongue for sure had often gotten him into trouble as well. Rarely though, there were moments he found himself at a loss of words, not knowing what to say to express what he was feeling.

Now was such a moment.

So he did the next best thing he could think of. He reached out, grabbed Ronnie and crushed her into a tight hug, one she returned, her hands sliding up and taking hold of him as well. And there, with her scent filling up his nose and her warmth seeping into him, he suddenly knew what to say.

It was so simple.

He tightened his hold onto her, burying his face into her silky hair and he sighed, the tension that had built up for over a year slowly leaving him. "I missed you, Ronnie," he told her, barely above a whisper. "God, I've missed you so much."

"I missed you too," he heard her whisper back and the rest of the tension left his body.

Logan wasn't sure how long they held each other like that. It didn't matter. They just did, as long as both of them needed to to start to heal that terrible, big, open wound that never stopped bleeding and which they both had carried ever since the death of the girl they both had loved.

Eventually, he did let go of her though, reluctantly, and turned away, trying to reign in his emotions once again. His eyes fell on the poker table, untouched since they had left it to go grab something to eat, an eternity away.

Right. That had been why he had convinced Ronnie to come inside with him and not just drop him off in the first place. Quickly, he moved over and opened the wooden box where the money was stashed, praying that it still was there this time. It was. He took out the fat bundle of hundred dollar bills, turned and threw it over to Ronnie who automatically caught it.

Puzzled, she looked from the money in her hand back to Logan, questioning.

"Take it. It's yours."

She frowned. "How is it mine? We didn't finish our game." She shook her head. "We should just give each his money back."

"Don't be ridiculous. You were whipping our asses. You know that, I know that, the guys know it. Connor was already out when we took the break and Duncan would have gone broke within the next round as well," Logan told her impatiently. "Weevil wasn't doing much better either and I…" he shrugged. "It would have taken more time but in the end you'd have outplayed me as well."

"You can't know that," she said quietly. "My luck could have changed or…"

"Ronnie. I saw you play. No way could we have beaten you. It doesn't matter anyway," Logan added, exasperated. "I'm the host of the game, I declare it over, now, and the winner is the one with the most chips left. Which is you. So shut up finally, take the money and go home before your Dad really cuffs you to the bed rest and you can't get him that present you wanted him to have anymore."

She opened her mouth, undoubtedly to protest again, but Logan just gave her a warning look.

Slowly, she breathed out and gave a tight nod. "Fine."

"You do know that I demand a revenge of course," he informed her, moving over to the couch to flip down, the events of this extremely long day finally catching up with him.

"Sure, why not? If you want to throw your money away so easily, no problem with me," she replied, nonchalantly, coming over.

Smiling, he closed his eyes, yawning. "Oh, don't think it will be that easy again. I know your secret now, Mars. I'll practice. And I'll win this time."

"In your dreams perhaps," she snorted. "Well, I really should get going. You going to be okay?"

His eyes still closed he nodded, yawning again. He felt her moving past him then though and he opened his eyes to see her bending down to grab the notebook on the coffee table.

"What are you doing?" he asked, frowning.

She gave him a look. "Taking the notebook? So I can have a look at that journal and then give it back?"

Logan shook his head. "Leave it here. I'll look through it."

Skeptical, she stared at him.

Sighing, he sat up. "Don't look like that. I promise I'll print out anything relevant I'll find. But…"

"But what?" she asked.

Uncomfortable under her scrutinizing gaze, he ran his hands through his hair before he met her eyes. "I… I just think Duncan would be more comfortable if it's just me who looks through his things. Well, actually I'm sure he doesn't want us to snoop through his stuff at all, but if he had a choice, I'm sure he would want it to be rather me than you."

For a long moment, she contemplated his words. "Why?" she finally wanted to know.

"Jeez Ronnie, what do you think? You're his ex. Trust me. If I were so crazy to keep a diary in what form whatever I'd want it to be Duncan to go through it a thousand times more than I'd ever want Lilly to go through it," he explained the obvious. "Or do you want to tell me that, if it were the other way around, that you'd want him to go through it?"

She looked away and nodded. "All right. If you have problems getting in, call me. I know someone who could help."

"Of course you do," he teased, falling back onto the couch, his eyes falling close again.

"What can I say, I know people," she replied dryly. "You better remember that."

He could hear her moving away. "Oh and Logan? Do yourself a favor and get your drunk ass into your bed. I'm pretty sure that you'll be thankful for a bathroom nearby once you wake up tomorrow."

"Aww, wanna say you care?" he drawled. "I'm touched, baby."

"Call me 'baby' again and I'll be forced to hurt you very much," she warned. "Call me tomorrow?"

"Hmm," Logan mumbled, drifting away more and more.

"Sweet dreams, Logan," was the last thing he heard before sleep claimed him once and for all.

Let's see. In one night he got his ass beaten at poker from Veronica Mars, his father had been stabbed, the entire boulevard press was camped out in front of his house and the hospital, he had found himself leaning solely on Ronnie, had washed away the last trails of anger towards her and had amazingly managed to tell her something the little amateur P.I. hadn't known so far.

Yet, he was falling asleep with a smile on his face for the first time since ages.

Yep, something definitely must be seriously up and amiss with the cosmos on this night.

* * *

TBC! 


	7. 6 Visits

**Chapter 6: Visits**

_October 15,_

_Lilly's dead. My sister is dead. Dead, dead, dead._

_They say I've found her. They say they've found me, rocking her dead body in my arms. They say she was killed, murdered._

_I don't remember. I don't remember anything. I remember being at soccer practise. Next thing I know I'm in a limo, driving to my sister's funeral._

_Why can't I remember?_

_Lilly. Oh God, Lilly..._

_It hurts so much. She can't be gone. She can't. She simply can't._

_How can she be dead? How can anyone want to harm her? How can anyone hate her so much to kill her?_

_It can't. It just can't be true._

_Mom and Dad... I don't get them. Dad's crying a lot. Mom doesn't. They hardly are in the same room together anymore and if they are, all they do is scream. I don't know what about. They never fight in front of me and I didn't bother to listen. I'm afraid of what I'll hear. _

_I don't like how they look at me. They're watching me, I know it. I can feel it. It's almost as if they believe..._

_NO!!!!!!!!_

_No. No, no, no. _

_Never._

_Mom said I should take some more pills._

_I took them._

_ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ_

His hands shaking, Logan reached for the whiskey bottle beside him and took a long dip from it. Then, throwing a wary glance at the screen in front of him, he stood up and started to pace, uneasily.

It hadn't been that difficult to get into Duncan's notebook. Not for him. Duncan had it protected well but for the guy who knew him since kindergarten it hadn't been difficult to find out the passwords. Neither for getting into the system, nor to get into the journal.

Once in, Logan had gone straight to the entries of October third and after, careful to not take any more glimpses than necessary. It was bad enough to misuse his best friend's trust like this, he didn't need to make it any worse.

And had found this one. It was the only entry for the three first months following Lilly's murder, written only a couple of days after Lilly's funeral.

He glanced back at the notebook, then down, running his hands through his hair.

Fuck.

The whole purpose of this ultimate breach of trust was to clear Duncan from any doubts whatsoever. But now...

If he showed this to Ronnie then Logan was sure she'd be convinced that it meant Duncan really had killed Lilly.

Memory loss, finding him over Lilly's body, his parents being wary of him and medicating him.

None of it looked good for Duncan.

Hell... Logan himself had to admit that Duncan's words had left him more than just a bit uneasy. And yet... Everything in him refused to believe that Duncan could have anything to do with Lilly's murder. Duncan had loved Lilly, no matter what. And even these words - he admitted they didn't sound good, especially when you looked at it neutrally, but for him, who knew Duncan pretty well, they sounded rather confused than guilty.

But Ronnie...

Somehow he doubted that Ronnie would think the same thing. Rather, she probably would jump to conclusions that ended with Duncan having killed Lilly.

With disgust he looked back at the notebook. He should continue, look through the entries shortly before October third and also the ones after the one he had just read. Perhaps, somewhere, he might be able to find a clue that would help to prove that Duncan hadn't done it. And pray that Duncan _never_ got wind of all this.

Right.

Sighing, Logan slowly went back and sat down again, turning to the screen once again. After a brief moment of hesitation, Logan clicked onto the next entry.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

_January 28,_

_My God, what have I done? What was I thinking? How could I have just gone and gave in?_

_Now everything is even worse than before. And I've thought it couldn't get worse. But it is, so much more._

_I tried to forget her so hard... I did everything I could think of to get her out of my head. And all for nothing. _

_Idiot. I'm a fucking idiot. Worse, I'm an asshole. How could I do that to her? If she ever finds out the truth..._

_But God, I love her so much. I just can't stop loving her. _

_And after that night... how can I ever forget just how beautiful it was, how beautiful she is? How can I simply forget how much I love her and how fucking much I want her, ALL the time, now more than ever?_

_But no..._

_It can't be. It must never happen again._

_**I. HAVE. TO. FORGET. HER!!!!!!!! **_

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Confused, Logan frowned at the entry. What the hell was Duncan talking about? What had he done that made him this guilty?

Pensive, he turned his head to look out of the window. The only thing he got in all these befuddled lines was that Duncan was talking about Ronnie. Who else could it be? To this day no other girl had ever captured his interest, his heart, as Veronica Mars had. The way Duncan had talked about this girl there was no doubt that it had to be her.

But then, what the hell had happened between the two of them for Duncan to be so remorseful? And - just why did he make it sound like a sin that he ever had had feelings for Ronnie, let alone that he still wasn't able to forget her?

What was with all that 'have to'-shit anyway?

It was Duncan who had broken up with Ronnie after all. Duncan, who had gone from one day loving her to barely acknowledging that she even existed.

Never giving anyone a reason, not even Ronnie.

Logan looked back at the notebook.

Because - perhaps, someone had forbid him to see her?

No. Duncan wouldn't have simply given up on her just because someone had told him to, not even his parents. Not Veronica. For that he had been too much in love with her. But what if someone gave him a very good reason not to date her anymore?

_If she ever finds out the truth..._

What truth, damn it?

Ugh, this just didn't make sense, none of it!

Shaking his head, Logan turned back and quickly went through the rest of the entries, trying to make sense of what Duncan had written about, without much luck. Duncan never mentioned Ronnie again for a long time, not that he had made many comments during the last year.

There were three short entries though that did sprang into his eyes.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

_September 20,_

_I've stopped taking the pills, those pills at least and I feel like shit. But at the same time I feel great. I feel like I'm actually living again, for the first time ever since that night. _

_So okay... there are those dreams. I shouldn't have those dreams. Really not. But damn, if I can't have the reality, I at least should deserve to have those dreams, shouldn't I? _

_And yeah, I jumped off that bleacher. So what? I don't understand why Dad and Mom are making such a drama out of it. I'm fine. And God - what a feeling that had been!_

_No, I'm not going to give up on feeling alive again._

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Logan remembered that time well. It was the first time in almost a year that Duncan had shown any signs that he actually was alive in that emotionless shell he had been in ever since Lilly's death. Ever since Celeste had drugged him up, he thought darkly.

But what dreams was Duncan talking about? He never had mentioned anything alike to Logan.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

_September 23,_

_I'm back on the pills. Dreams are one thing, but hallucinations of Lilly? _

_No. I can't bear them. Can't bear to see her like that, with her beautiful hair dark with dried blood. _

_She said that I needed to wake up. Said, that something wasn't adjure with her murder. That I needed to remember._

_But it just had been an hallucination, hadn't it been? An imagination of my mind. _

_And yet... I can't forget about it. What... what if it had been real?_

_God, I'm crazy._

_No wonder they fill me up with medication._

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Running with his hands through his hair, Logan looked down, closing his eyes.

Shit.

Hallucinating Lilly? Appearing to tell Duncan that something didn't add up with her murder?

Duncan was right. That did sound crazy.

But...

There _was_ something amiss. They _had_ the wrong guy with her killer still at loose.

Could it be...

Nah. That was impossible.

Ridiculous.

But what if Duncan's subconscious was talking to him by conjuring up that hallucination? Because he knew deep down that the whole Abel Koontz story was made up? He had said he didn't remember finding her body. Didn't remember anything. Then again, he had been on medication ever since that day, apparently. What if, with the medicaments gone, he started to remember?

With a sigh, he turned back to Duncan's diary.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

_October 3,_

_I've decided to stop taking the pills again. It's just not right. I'll do it more slowly this time, hoping that the hallucination won't come again. And even if they do... I don't care. It's bad enough that I have to take pills at all. I refuse to swallow even more tranquilizers. _

_I want to live. I miss feeling alive._

_Lilly... she would be so mad at me for not living for real when she..._

_God, Lil, I miss you so much. And I promise you, I won't waste my life any longer._

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Blinking, Logan rubbed his eyes. Jeez, he was going to rot in hell for this. This was just wrong. He had no right to read Duncan's most private thoughts. And the worst of it all, he hadn't even learnt anything useful.

The only thing he had gotten so far were more questions and a growing sense of fresh loss over Lilly. There was a reason why he refused to talk about Lilly. It just hurt too damn much.

Every fiber of his body told him to stop now - but then, the breach of trust had already been done. He could as well go through the rest of it now. There were only few more entries left - and then he should probably still check the ones shortly before Lilly's death. He and Ronnie were pretty sure that her murder had been a crime of passion - not a minutely planned cold murder. So anything relevant Duncan may have noticed and hopefully written down wouldn't have happened much before October third.

But there were no more mentions about Lilly. No more hallucinations or questions about her murder. The most interesting thing Logan learned from the recent entries was that apparently, Duncan had a new crush. Now that was a surprise. Logan couldn't say that he had noticed his best friend taking an interest in one Meg Manning so far. Duncan for sure hadn't mentioned it ever. The last entry though pretty much left no doubt whatsoever with Duncan wondering if enough time since her break-up with Cole had passed and just how he could woe her.

Yeah. It was interesting. Even if Logan couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed that Duncan had never mentioned anything. Especially as Logan always had been so eager for him to finally get over Veronica.

Now though... He couldn't help but wonder what Ronnie would think about Duncan going out with Meg, one of her friends after all. Logan didn't know much about what exactly had happened between Ronnie and Duncan - now even less than before - but you had to be blind to not notice that no matter what, there were still many matters unresolved between them. And the feelings they had had weren't gone completely either.

In a way, he wasn't surprised though that Duncan's eye had fallen onto Meg Manning out of all people. Sure, Meg was nice and sweet but honestly, Logan had never been able to see much in her. He had always found her a bit boring. She resembled a certain girl though, at least how Ronnie had been before. Though, if anyone asked him, Ronnie had had way more personality and funk in her than Meg by far. Ronnie had been sweet and nice as well, yeah, and Heaven, she sure was virginity in person, and yet: there always had been more to her than that, so much more. She was incredible funny, a wonderful bickering partner, a joy to tease, had a surprising similar taste in music, books and movies as Logan and then, she was also loyal to the core. She... was real, nothing false in her, nothing of her pretending to be something she wasn't. Nothing like Meg Manning. Then again, he didn't really knew Meg that well.

Still... he couldn't help but think that Duncan's interest in her had a lot to do with how similar she seemed to be to the Veronica of the past, at least on the first glance.

There was only one more entry that was - strange.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

_November 19,_

_I think she's beginning to find out. She avoids me. Barely looks at me. And the glances I did catch her sending my way... the look in her eyes, on her face..._

_Oh yeah, she's starting to put two and two together._

_How could she not, now that she knows about Dad and her mom?_

_Damn that fucking class reunion!_

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

With a deep frown, Logan shook his head, silently cursing Duncan for writing so cryptic. Wasn't a diary supposed to be full of details and little secrets? But no, Duncan had to mention secrets without enlightening them.

_Who_ was going to find out _what_?

Ronnie perhaps?

Duncan seemed to refer to her only as 'she', never with a name.

But - what had Jake Kane to do with Lianne Mars?

And why the hell had Duncan never said anything? About his reasons to break up with Ronnie, about the pills, about Meg and Heaven knew what else. He was Duncan's best friend. Duncan knew his darkest secret, Logan had always trusted him, told him about almost everything. And Duncan? The more Logan read, the more he found out just what all Duncan hadn't told him. Why not? Didn't Duncan know that he could trust him? That Logan would have his back, no matter what? In fact had had his back, ever since kindergarten?

Frustrated, Logan shook his head again and quickly went back to the entries before Lilly's death. The last entry was dated in the week before her death.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

_September 27,_

_**NO!!!!!!!!!!**_

_It can't be true! It just can't! They are lying! Mom always hated Veronica, she would say just about everything to break us up, that's what Lilly had always said and now... It just has to be a lie._

_She can't be... I couldn't..._

_For fuck's sake, if it were true Mom wouldn't have waited all this time to only say something now. Or Dad. Or Mrs Mars. Mom and Dad may have had hesitated to tell us the truth, always careful about their image, but not Mrs Mars. She wouldn't have cared about that._

_No. It must be some cruel joke from Mom._

_But what if it's true? Dad did have had that affair with Mrs Mars, that much I believe. And he admitted that it could be true._

_Noooooooooo..._

_God, no. Please no. _

_Veronica... my wonderful, beautiful Veronica. I love her so much. So very much. How could it ever be that she's my sister? I couldn't love my sister like that, couldn't I? Couldn't have all those feelings for her?_

_It just can't be!_

_But Mom... Would Mom really make up something like that? If it's true... It... _

_Veronica. She and Lilly are so much alike. If you see pictures of them as little girls it's hard to tell which one is who. And... her eyes. She has the same eyes as Dad. _

_Oh God._

_No._

_I... I can't see her anymore. I need to break up with her. How can I ever do that? When I love her so much? When I can't stop thinking about her? _

_But she's my goddamn fucking **SISTER!!!!!!!!!**_

_I don't have a choice._

_How could they do that to us? How could they have let this even happen? I hate them. I fucking hate them for this._

_God - how can I ever stop loving you, Veronica? How can I explain to you why we can't see each other anymore?_

_Veronica - I'm so sorry._

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Wait... wait a minute... _WHAT?!?!?!_

Logan stared at Duncan's words, shocked to the deepest core of his body.

What?

Ronnie... Duncan's _sister_?

_Lilly's_ sister?

But that was simply ridiculous. Ronnie was a Mars. Lilly and Duncan Kanes. They couldn't be...

_Jake Kane and Lianne Mars?_

The software mogul and a little, alcoholic housewife from the suburbs? How on Earth could they ever have gotten together?

Impossible. It just couldn't be true.

But... hadn't Lilly always joked that Ronnie even looked like her sister? It was true that Lilly and Ronnie resembled each other, at least on the outside. And... Ronnie was beautiful, always had been. Whereas Keith Mars - he really was no Adonis. Lianne was rather pretty, yeah, but then, he had never thought that Ronnie and her mother resembled each other much. If you put Jake Kane into the picture though...

God.

So - Ronnie was Duncan and Lilly's half sister?

That was just...

"Logan?"

His head snapped around and his eyes widened when none other than Veronica Mars stood in the door to his room, her eyebrows risen.

He stared at her, having no idea what to do. Did she know? Should he tell her? He should tell her, shouldn't he? But jeez, how could he tell her that the man she sacrificed everything for and who she loved more than anything probably wasn't her father but that it was the man just her dad had accused of murdering his own daughter - her sister?

Fuck - no wonder Duncan rather avoided her altogether than to have _that_ conversation.

She came further into the room, starting to frown. "Logan? Everything all right?"

All right? All right?

Her frown deepened. "Is it your dad? Did something go wrong? Had he a set-back?"

Abruptly, Logan turned around and forcefully pushed the key to turn off the notebook before he closed it with a harsh movement. She couldn't read this. Couldn't learn this - like that.

God - just what should he do now?

He needed time to figure all this out - and why was she here at all? Shouldn't she be celebrating Christmas or something like that?

"Logan!"

Slowly, he turned back around, looked at her worried face. "Why are you here?"

Shit - that had come out wrong. And sure enough, her face closed off and hurt flickered through her eyes before she shut them down as well.

"Don't worry, I'll leave again," she remarked coldly and turned around, briskly walking away.

Fuck!

"Shit, no, Ronnie, wait!" He called out after her, jumping up to hurry after her.

She stopped, but everything in her stance told him that she was far from being calmed down.

He ran his hands over his face. "I... I was just reading in Duncan's diary. And I - it wasn't that easy, okay? I'm sorry I snapped at you, I didn't mean to. It was just... Fuck."

Her eyes gentled and she sighed. "Sorry. This..." She waved between them. "I guess it's still kinda new."

"You overreacted," Logan nodded, feeling a smile tug at the corner of his lips.

She frowned. "I wouldn't say that. I just interpreted your words in the wrong way."

Logan nodded. "By overreacting."

His answer was a single glare. He grinned. The glare intensified but she stomped back into his room, dropping her bag onto his bed.

Logan followed her, for once in his life being wise and saying nothing more. At least not about her overreacting. "So - what _are_ you doing here?" he asked as he closed his door.

She shrugged, glancing around, probably registering every little detail he had changed in his room since Lilly's death. Not much, he thought, glancing around as well. Less pictures as he had put away everyone with Ronnie in it but one he just hadn't been able to put away, the last picture of the four of them together, taken on homecoming night. A few new things, naturally. But basically, not that much. He wasn't home enough to care much about his room.

"You said I should come over again," Ronnie answered and stopped to look at him. "I thought today is as good a day as anyone."

"It's Christmas," Logan pointed out. "Shouldn't you be celebrating with your Dad?"

"We have. We always celebrate on Holy Night, remember? Christmas, we just have a real good brunch which we had. Now he watches sports and will go out, talking a walk and I..." she shrugged again and smiled at him. "I thought I'd come by and see how you are doing."

He regarded her for a moment, suspicious. "I'm fine."

"That's good to hear," she said way too perkily. "And how's your Dad doing? I hear your Mom never leaves his side. They okay?"

Regarding her a moment longer, Logan turned away, not really in the mood to talk about his parents. Then again, she asked, honestly, and that was more than he had heard over the last couple of days from his so called friends. If he had bothered to pick up the phone.

"They said he can leave the hospital in a couple of days. And Mom's there because the PR guy thought the best way to react to all the reportages is by showing the world that Lynn and Aaron Echolls, dream couple, love each other no matter what and Mom stands with Dad, only glad he's alive and not really caring about the claims of a clearly mad woman," Logan told her, not bothering to hide the bitter sarcasm.

He never had to hide that one from Ronnie, she always had understood that, even without knowing what really went on in this family.

"I'm surprised they didn't want you to be there as well, especially today," Ronnie said softly.

He snickered. "Oh, but they did. I just refused to play along."

She nodded and smiled. "You would."

Logan took a closer look at her, pensive. He let himself remember the old Ronnie - and realized with a start that the old Ronnie always used to come by on Christmas, that was, if he wasn't invited over to her house, ever since he had mentioned that first year they've known each other that his parents would be away on Christmas, attending some big party in Paris. He sighed. Of course. "That's why you're here, aren't you? Because you knew Mom's with Dad in the hospital."

"Hey, I just like to go see my friends on Christmas. I was over at Wallace's and driving by I thought hey, Veronica, what better way to confirm that you and Logan are back to friends than by surprising the lucky boy to wish him a Merry Christmas?" she said animatedly and walked over to her bag. When she turned back around, she wore a grin the size of Texas. "And in that sense: Merry Christmas!"

His eyes dropped down to the little, flat present wrapped in black paper she held out to him and he felt...

He wasn't quite sure what he felt.

"Ronnie..."

"Just take it, Logan," she said quietly, her eyes suddenly serious.

Slowly, he took it, staring at it. Why... After everything that had happened, the least he had expected was her dropping by just so he wouldn't be alone on Christmas, let alone with a present in tow. But then, why not? This was exactly the thing his Ronnie would have done and this Ronnie and that Ronnie may not be the same anymore - but they weren't totally different from each other either.

So no, this really shouldn't surprise him.

"I don't have anything for you," he admitted tonelessly.

But Ronnie just shook her head, still grinning from ear to ear. "Course not. Why should you? You already gave me those five grand so I can send Dad to that baseball camp. Which was a big hit by the way. I've never seen him this excited about anything - he was so excited he even forget to worry about the money I gave out for that, so much he loved it."

Logan looked up, frowning. "That hardly was a present. You won that money."

"You declared me the winner which you didn't have to." Her perkiness vanished to leave her very serious, suddenly, as she sat down and looked at her hands. "Besides... You... You're back, Logan. You listened. You believed me." She raised her head and her eyes met him. "You apologized for all the shit, you're with me now and - and we're friends again," she almost whispered. "You really don't need to worry about not having anything for me, Logan."

His throat closed off and his chest suddenly felt very tight. "Ronnie..."

"So!" Her perkiness was back full force. "What are you waiting for? Open it!"

Biting his lips, Logan looked down at the small gift in his hand, then over to Duncan's notebook. He needed to tell her. He had to. He had no idea how, but somehow, he needed to tell her, all of the things he had found out, as little as it was and as big as it was.

"Hey! Present! Unwrap! Hop, hop, hop!"

He blinked and glanced at her, watching him curiously. Gulping, he nodded with a shaky grin and tore at the black wrap paper. A small card came to light and frowning, he looked back at Ronnie. "Uh... you know, I already have a driver's license."

She rolled her eyes. "Not one that says you're twenty-one," she told him, grinning mischievously.

"What?" Logan exclaimed and took a closer look at the license. Sure enough: according to this one, he was twenty-one.

Flabbergasted, his eyes flew back to Ronnie. "A fake ID? You gave me a fake ID?"

She nodded. "And a damn good one, so keep a good eye on it. You won't find another one this authentic anytime soon."

Still stunned, Logan felt as a deep laugh climbed up and sure enough, the next moment he was laughing tears.

Ronnie frowned. "Okay... that's not exactly what I've expected."

He laughed only harder. "Jeez Ronnie... Just... I... I'm just trying to imagine... the old Ronnie... sheriff's daughter... to... to hand out... fake ID's," he gasped out between fits of laughter.

She started to grin. "Hmm... not quite my former style, huh?"

"Hardly," Logan managed to answer, calming down a little. "Ms Mars, I'm shocked."

"Oh, don't sweat it," she warned him amiable and shrugged. "Just thought you could use it, if you're something like my partner now." Her eyes narrowed. "I didn't give you this so you can go raid all the liquor shops in a hundred mile radius. Even if it's a good fake, you shouldn't use it too much."

"Aye, Aye, Sir," Logan saluted, grinning dirtily.

Her eyes pierced his some more.

"Okay, okay, I promise I'll only use this when I have to," he offered a promise.

"Emergency. Real emergencies, not just you and Dick sitting on the dry. Or when I tell you to use it," she clarified though, giving him a hard look.

He sighed. "Fine. Only for emergencies."

"Uh-huh," she nodded. "And just remember that it doesn't take much to tip the police that a certain son of movie stars is showing around a fake driver's license."

It was his turn to narrow his eyes at her, contemplating if she really would do that.

Oh yeah, she would.

He shook his head. "Thanks Ronnie," he simply said, honestly.

She offered him a smile. "No big deal." Her eyes slid over to Duncan's laptop. "So... I take it that you got in?"

All humor leaving him, Logan gave a tight nod. "Yeah."

She waited for him to elaborate. When he didn't, she raised an eyebrow. "And - found out anything?"

Oh yeah, that he did, Logan thought bitterly and carefully put Ronnie's present into his briefcase.

"Logan?"

"I found out that I'm going to rot in hell for this," Logan told her angrily. Perhaps, if he got her angry, she'd leave and he wouldn't have to tell her anything, at least not yet.

She wasn't roused though. "Duncan doesn't need to know, ever."

He frowned. "And that makes it better?"

Ronnie sighed and looked away. "No. Just easier. Logan - I can understand that you hate to do this. But to be fair, it was your idea."

"Yeah, I know," he sighed and hung his head. His very own stupid idea.

"Logan? What did you find out? What made you so upset?"

Shaking his head, he looked up - avoiding to look at her though.

"Did... Did he say anything about that day?" Ronnie asked hesitantly.

Finally, he looked back at her. "Yeah, a little. Nothing concrete. He..." Logan took a deep breath. "He wrote that he didn't remember founding her. He - he seems to have a gap for the time he was in soccer practice until her funeral."

She paled.

"And he mentioned that they've told him that he had found Lilly, that they've found him rocking her," Logan said tonelessly, feeling as if he had just put Duncan onto the death row single handedly.

"That's not good," Ronnie said as gravely as him.

"Come on Ronnie, he found his sister, murdered. What would you have done? Just turned around and called the police, without touching her whatsoever?" Logan flared up, glaring over at her.

"No... no, of course not. I didn't say that... it just... it really doesn't look that good, Logan," Ronnie said, frustrated. "Did you make me a print?"

Logan looked at his printer and the sheets in it. "Yeah - But I'm not sure you should read those. They really are private."

Ronnie got up and walked over to the printer. "I don't like doing this - but I'll do whatever is necessary, Logan," she stated quietly, looking back at Logan before taking the sheets.

While she read through them, Logan moved over to his bed to sit down there, uncomfortable. He had only printed out the entries about Lilly's death and his medication, leaving the other ones out. They weren't related to Lilly's death, at least he didn't think so.

"What do you suppose he meant: _more_ pills?"

Logan looked up, confused. "Huh?"

Ronnie was staring at the papers in her hand, frowning deeply. "Here, in the one right after Lilly's death he writes: 'Mom says I should take some more pills.' _More_ pills. Like he is already taking pills. And here too: I've stopped taking the pills, those pills at least. _Those_ pills. Like there are more than just the anti-depressives. Then again later, when he decided to stop taking them again: I refuse to swallow even more tranquilizers right after saying that it's bad enough that he has to take pills at all." She looked up and met his eyes. "Did you ever see him taking any forms of medication?"

Logan didn't have to think long about that. "No. Nothing more than an aspirin occasionally."

"Me neither. Lilly never mentioned anything ever either," Ronnie murmured, looking back down at the entries.

"Perhaps you just interpret too much into it," Logan suggested, but he frowned too. He hadn't noticed those remarks as strange but now that Ronnie had pointed them out like that... It really did sound like there was yet another secret of Duncan.

"Or maybe, Duncan just never wanted us to know that he has something for which he requires to take medication," Ronnie countered.

Usually, Logan would have protested immediately. After all, why should Duncan keep this secret from his best friend or his girlfriend? But that was before he had gotten a good peek at Duncan's little secrets.

"Maybe," he sighed, dejected.

Ronnie's head snapped up to stare at him with narrowed eyes.

"What?" Logan asked irritated.

"You didn't protest," she pointed out. "What else did you find out?"

Logan looked away.

Not leaving him out of her eyes, Ronnie put away the print outs and then moved over to stand in front of Logan. "What else did you find out, Logan?"

Briefly, Logan closed his eyes. When he opened them again to look up at Ronnie, he hoped they wouldn't betray him.

"Ronnie - at the Christmas party: Why did you want to talk to Jake?" he asked her softly.

She had said it wasn't about Lilly. Had said that it was something personal. Was it - because she had found out about Jake and Lianne? That strange entry from Duncan - it made more sense now. He thought Ronnie had found it out, didn't he? If Ronnie knew already...

Instead of giving a straight answer, she paled though, her eyes widening. "What?"

"You and Jake. What did you talk about? You had him pretty angry," Logan tried again.

"That... it's personal," she told him shortly, but her eyes held his. "Why are you asking this?"

Logan said nothing - didn't know what to say. Should he just spill it or should he keep his mouth shut? It may not be true after all. He just had Duncan's confused ramblings, based on what Celeste had told him. Not a very trustworthy source, not in Logan's eyes.

Ronnie's face closed off and she swallowed before she turned away abruptly. "What did you read? Has... Did Duncan..." Her voice trailed off and she hugged herself tightly. "Am I... Are we..."

She knew. Or at least suspected it. As much was clear to Logan now. He stood up and went over to her, hesitating though when he was a step away from her. "Apparently, Celeste told him that you're his half sister," he admitted as gently as he could.

She hugged herself even tighter, her shoulders slumped down, her back went very straight. With a sigh, he closed the distance between them and enveloped her into his embrace. "Is it true?" he whispered eventually, resting his chin on the top of her head.

He felt her shake her head. "I - I don't know. Mom and Jake were a couple, back in high school. Prom king and queen, actually. I don't know much more. Just..."

"Just what?"

She slumped against him and he tightened his hold on her. "Koontz said that he saw Mom coming to see Jake in his office regularly."

Logan fought hard to not show his anger at those words. He still found it unacceptable that Ronnie had gone to see Koontz, even if it was in a high security prison. "And you believe him?" he asked, incredulous.

"No, of course not. Not really. I know he's a lying bastard. But..." She leaned back so she could look up at him. "When the new school year started, Celeste hired my Dad to check upon Jake. She thought he had an affair. While I was doing surveillance on him he met with a woman in the Camelot. It was - Mom. I didn't see her, but I saw the car of the woman and it was registered to my mom." Gently, she freed herself from Logan's embrace and went to sit down on his bed, knees drawn close to her chest. "Apart from the fact that Mom and Jake Kane should have no business with each other for them to meet at all - the Camelot is not exactly the place to meet to chat a little or make a business deal. Two and two still give four."

Logan took his time to respond. "That doesn't have to mean that you really are Jake's daughter."

She smiled humorlessly. "Nor does it prove that I'm not." She played with her fingers, staring at them as if she had never seen them before. "I made one of those online paternity tests, you know? But when I got the results back, I chickened out. I tried to tell myself that it doesn't really matter. Dad's my dad, no matter what. Nothing will ever change that and I didn't need proof for it. It's not as if I want anything from Jake if... Okay, yeah, I had that thought, shortly, I mean, after everything he has done to my family I sure felt like he owed me. Especially if he let me date my own brother. But then I realized I really don't care at all. I just want Dad to be my dad and nothing else. So I shredded the damn thing without even opening it."

He was silent, a million thoughts going through his head. Imagining to be at her place which really wasn't very productive because he'd give a lot to not have the same genes as his father. Unfortunately, he had the paternity test that proved his relation to his dad. And frankly said, in her place, he probably would have sued Jake for every last penny he had. She was right: If all this was true, then he damn sure owed her a lot more than just a great deal of money. And mostly, as hard as it may be, he would want to know for sure. If just to rule out that Duncan was her brother and they had actually dated their sibling.

As if she had picked up on that last thought of his, she chuckled dryly. "I guess I finally know now just why Duncan broke up with me. I even start to begin why he did it like he did, by simply ignoring I exist from one day to the other: I guess it's not that easy to tell your girlfriend that she's actually your half sister."

Logan didn't like the bitterness in her words but he honestly couldn't blame her. "Do you think Lilly knew?" he instead asked.

Ronnie slowly nodded. "Yeah, I think he told her when she tried to make him take me back. That would explain why she went from assuring me that she'll make sure Duncan gets just how incredible stupid he had been to dump me one day to joyfully declaring that I should just forget about him and be glad that I'm finally rid of him so I can get myself a guy who really deserves me the other day."

"She never said anything to me," Logan said, frowning.

"You were broken up for the moment. Besides, she didn't tell me either and sometimes I ask myself just what else she kept from me, especially now that I know about her and Weevil," Ronnie sighed, loosing her tight hold on her knees enough to lean back against the wall behind his bed.

Glancing at the notebook, he snorted. "I get that feeling."

They were silent for a while.

After a while, Ronnie spoke again, very hesitantly and with a tone in her voice that made him listen to her very closely. "Logan? You know the Kanes better than I do. Do you think... Could I be..." she stopped and took a deep breath, her eyes flickering over to him before she stared at her hands again. "You know Lilly. She - would have had a field day with her perfect father probably having a love child. Especially me. What if she had planned to make it public? Would that have been reason enough for Celeste or Jake," she swallowed, "to - kill her?"

Stunned, Logan stared at her before he turned his head to look out of the window. Shit. Fuck. What the hell had he thought when he had gotten himself into this? Solving a murder? Yeah, sure, no problem at all.

He hadn't even thought that far - nor did he like the trail of those thoughts. And yet... "I don't know Ronnie," he huffed, aggravated. "I'd have said no but... What do I really know? I still don't think Jake could have done it. He - always seemed to have loved Lilly, even if he too tried to suppress her. Celeste though?" He shook his head. "Maybe," he admitted with a whisper.

"It all comes back down to the Kanes, doesn't it?" Veronica asked after a moment.

Logan just gave a short nod.

The two of them fell into another heavy, loud silence.

It was once again Ronnie who broke it. "Hey - did Dick ever told you that once, he dropped a dildo into my bag without me noticing that started to vibrate, thankfully just when I was leaving class?" she asked and moved to stretch out on his bed, flipping to lie on her stomach, elbows propped up.

Tentatively, he glanced over to her. Where was she heading to now? "No," he answered, frowning a little as that surprised him. Dick sure loved to brag, especially about his pranks against Ronnie.

She grinned evilly. "Oh, that doesn't surprise me. See, after I found it it wasn't that hard to track down the buyer, especially if he's so stupid to pay with his credit card. So that night, I did a little surveillance on one Dick Casablancas."

"Oh," Logan mockingly gasped, starting to grin as evilly as she did. He had a hunch that he was going to like what was to come.

"Yeah. And you know, I might also have broken into his car earlier on to return him his gift, leaving it in his glove compartment," Ronnie continued, looking as innocent as she used to look. Logan snickered. "So that night, he had a date with some bimbo. And when Dick went into action - and believe me, witnessing that was definitely one of the grossest things I ever did - I _might _have activated the vibrator with the remote control so it went wild in that compartment. Then, when they broke it off to see what was going on, I cut it off - to activate it again just when he was all over her."

"You evil little bitch," Logan laughed, his eyes sparkling. "Did Dick ever bother to look into the compartment?"

"Dick?" Ronnie asked, raising an eyebrow and giving him a look. Right. "But the bimbo did - and let's just say she was less than pleased when a pink painted, big sized dildo jumped into her lap with 'Dick' painted on it in big, fat, red letters, happily continuing to vibrate in her lap. It involved screeching, a flow of really bad curses for Dick and the highlight was when she slapped Dick, shoved the still vibrating dildo into his open mouth and got out to whistle down a taxi, vanishing into the night," Ronnie finished, grinning maliciously, her eyes dazzling with gleeful amusement.

By now, Logan was laughing so hard his sides hurt. "Oh God, please tell me you have that on film."

"Please," she answered, offended.

"I'll give you anything if you give me that tape," Logan gasped, desperately trying to get a hold on himself.

She seemed to think about it for a moment, smiling lasciviously. "Hmm... Let me think about that: Should I give you some of the best blackmail material I hold over your idiotic friend - or should I keep it? Hmm, whatever should I do?"

"At least let me see it. I've got to see that!" Logan argued, still grinning.

Ronnie gasped and eyed him with her big, innocent eyes. "Why, Mr Echolls, I'm shocked! You drawing joy out of the humiliation of one of your closest friends?"

"It's Dick," Logan reasoned.

She smiled and was just about to answer when the door opened and Duncan walked in. "Hey dude. Merry Christmas. Thought I'd come by and we play..." He stopped dead cold when his eyes fell onto Veronica, still lying comfortably on Logan's bed, looking like a deer caught in the headlights.

The silence in Logan's room was deafening.

"Veronica," Duncan said slowly, his eyes never leaving his ex-girlfriend.

Looking from one to the other, Logan cursed silently. Great. Just fucking great. "Hey dude. Seems to be the day of just walking in without calling first, let alone knocking. First Ronnie, now you. Not that I'm complaining."

Neither Ronnie, nor Duncan moved, just kept staring at each other. Eventually though, Duncan broke the eye contact by looking over to Logan, a deep frown between his eyes.

Glancing at Ronnie, Logan stood up and offered a lopsided grin. "Ronnie and I decided to give our friendship another shot," he told his best friend.

He and Ronnie may have decided to keep their newly rekindled friendship for themselves but the way it was now, there was no other way to explain to Duncan why Ronnie was there, them two obviously hanging around and being comfortable doing so. He was just glad Duncan hadn't walked in when they had been discussing his diary or the case.

Still frowning, Duncan looked from Logan to Veronica and back to Logan. "Oh."

Logan nodded. "Yeah... You were right, you know. I've cooled down. And after everything that happened on Mom's party..." He shrugged. "There just was no use anymore to ignore that we've been friends, once. Good friends." His eyes trailed over to Ronnie who watched him with an expression he couldn't quite read. "And that I want to have that friendship back."

He felt Duncan's eyes boring into him but refused to look back at him. He didn't have to justify himself for fuck's sake. It wasn't as if he had made out with Ronnie or something. They just had been talking.

"And the wonderful person I am I decided to give him a second chance," Ronnie picked up from him and sat up.

Momentarily distracted, Logan frowned over to her. "Excuse me? You giving _me_ a second chance? I think it's rather the other way around if I decide to let you have a part of my fabulousness again."

She rolled her eyes and stood up. "I think it's a little crowded in here with your ego blown up to thrice its already enormous size."

"You're just jealous," Logan waved her comment away.

Shaking her head, she picked up her bag. "Jealous that I'm not an egocentric, spoiled rich boy? Oh yeah, Logan, you've nailed it." She looked at Duncan and performed a perfect eye roll again. "How you could keep up with him since kindergarten is still a mystery to me."

Slowly, Duncan looked from her over to Logan, before he gave a small smile. "Small doses and a divine patience."

"Hey!" Logan protested, throwing Duncan a wounded look. "Thanks for having my back, man."

Duncan shrugged and smiled. "Always."

Laughing, Veronica moved over to the door. "Well, I leave you boys to your games then."

Duncan stopped smiling. "You don't have to leave on my account."

The smile Veronica sent him was easy. "Don't give yourself too much credit. I still have a nervous dad at home who might call the national guard if I'm more than twenty minutes late. That leaves me fifteen minutes to get home." She nodded over to Logan's desk. "By the way, Weevil gave back your things. I've left your notebook on Logan's desk so he could bring it over to you. Just do me a favor and use at least cleverly disguised synonyms from now on," she told Duncan, giving him a look.

Giving a properly chagrined laugh, Duncan glanced over at his notebook. "Thanks Veronica."

She shrugged. "No big deal. Oops, thirteen minutes. See you guys."

And out of the door she was, leaving a real uncomfortable Logan with a way too suspicious looking Duncan behind. Logan reminded himself to thank Ronnie for that later on.

Slowly, Duncan went over to the bed and sat down. "So... you and Ronnie, huh?"

Frowning, Logan glanced back at Duncan. "Come on DK - you make it sound like something it definitely isn't."

"I didn't say anything," Duncan said, but his voice was tense.

Logan just gave him a look.

Duncan held up his hands. "Hey - I think it's great you two finally forgot that ridiculous war you had going on. I'm just a bit surprised that it actually happened." There was a slight pause. "You never said anything, though."

Yeah - like Duncan was telling him everything.

With a shrug, Logan sat down on the floor in front of his bed and reached underneath to get out the controllers for the play station. "It's quite recent," he said and actually, it was, at least declaring themselves to be friends again. "And you know, I've been a tad bit busy dealing with my dad being stabbed by one of his ex-flings. I just quite didn't find the time to give you a call."

Duncan looked chagrined, just like Logan had intended it. He really didn't owe Duncan a justification, best friend or not.

"Sorry, I didn't..."

"Wanna play?" Logan interrupted him, holding out the controlled to him.

Hesitantly, Duncan took it. "That's why I came over."

"Then let's not loose any more time," Logan said and started the game.

* * *

They were in the third game when Duncan brought the conversation back to a certain little blond one.

"I guess people will be quite surprised when they see you and Veronica being all friendly again, when school is back on," Duncan mentioned casually. Too casually.

Focusing on the game, Logan shrugged. "No, I don't think though."

"What?" Duncan frowned. "Logan, you can't believe that you two being friends again will just go unnoticed."

Shit. He had yet to talk with Ronnie about what they wanted to do, now that Duncan knew. Somehow, he had a hunch that she still would insist on keeping it on the low.

"We agreed to not make a big thing out of this. Actually, for now, we decided to keep it just for us," Logan said him more flippant than he felt.

"Why?" Duncan asked, flabbergasted, staring at him and not paying any attention to the game anymore at all.

Using the opportunity, Logan killed Duncan's character for good. "Much has happened that past year. We first need to try this newfound friendship a little, just between us, with no other people who think they know it better interfering." That sounded logical, didn't it? "She's not planning to come sit at our table again, neither do I want to go sit at the pariah table. Her friends hate me, my friends love to torment her. It's just - better that way."

"That's the most stupid thing I've ever heard."

Perhaps, the story wasn't as good as Logan had thought. Sighing, he put the controller down and looked at Duncan. "Tell that Ronnie, it's been her idea. But I see her point. Just - go along with it, okay?"

Duncan frowned. "Her idea?"

"Yeah. If you ask me, I think she's ashamed of me," Logan said, putting all the hurt he could muster into his voice. "She just doesn't want her friends to know that she succumbed to my charms again."

His best friend was suspiciously silent and the hard look he received from him wasn't very comforting either.

"Just tell me this isn't some other sick game of you, Logan," Duncan said quietly. "You've hurt her enough. Don't go and shatter her trust like that again."

For a moment, Logan froze before he jumped up angrily. "Oh, I don't fucking believe _you_! I know I've done a few bad things in my life but you really believe I would do something like that? Befriend Ronnie again to then make some big, final strike against her? After she's been the only one who fucking cared when my dad nearly got killed right in front of my eyes and that even despite all the shit that had happened between us? Great Duncan, nice to see how lowly you think of me - again."

Duncan looked remorseful and he damn right should. "Logan..."

"And you know what? I'm not the one who fucking broke her heart by breaking up with her without giving her so much as an explanation or anything. That was _you_ and not me. But I went along with it, had your back, never asking for a reason. And now you have the nerve to warn _me_ when I'm just trying to get back to being friends with her like you nagged me to for months now?" Logan laughed bitterly. "Great DK, that's really noble of you."

"Come on Logan, you don't exactly have the best record with her," Duncan countered, his face closed off.

"I never said that. But neither have you," Logan pointed out and narrowed his eyes. "Are you really having a problem with me and Ronnie being friends again?" he demanded to know.

"No, of course not, but..." Duncan started to say.

"Whoa, stop right there. You're my best friend, Duncan, but let's get something straight: No one tells me who my friends are, not even you. Ronnie was my best friend after you and we may not be back to that but we are back on the track for being friends again. We had a harsh fight, we felt betrayed by the other and there were also some misunderstandings but that was between us and we dealt with it. I don't know what your problem with her is, I mean, one moment she's your world, the next she doesn't seem to exist to you anymore and yet another you nearly rip my head off for hanging out with her." Logan shook his head. "But that's between the two of you and not my business. I know that. Just do me the favor and stay out of my business with her as well." He narrowed his eyes and decided to attack. "You know, if you still are so hung up on her then go and get it over with, go and try to get her back. You've got my blessing now. Just spare me your jealous fits."

With a growl, Duncan jumped up and pounced over to stare right into Logan's face. "Stop it! Stop it, stop it, stop it! You don't know what you're talking about. I _told_ you, Veronica and I will never be together again. _Never!_"

Logan grew very still, eyeing his best friend wide eyed. He had never seen him that much out of it, his eyes so - angry but also absent at the same time. No. No, that wasn't quite true. There was that one time, when he had found Duncan strangling Jake. Carefully, Logan held up his hands.

"Okay, man, if you say so." For a moment, he hesitated. "But you know, it sure looks like you're still hung up on her."

Duncan's eyes cleared and he breathed deeply and suddenly, Duncan was just - Duncan again. "I... uh... I just still care about her, you know? We were friends first after all. And she was my first love. I mean, I've known her since like forever," he added as an afterthought.

Yeah, and you forget to mention that she might also be your sister, Logan thought but said nothing. Instead, he smirked. "If you say so."

He guessed Duncan caught the sarcasm as his face turned a shade redder and he turned away, moving over to Logan's bookshelf, fingering with one of the lighters Logan had collected over the years.

"Actually... I... there kinda is someone else," Duncan admitted nervously, his back firmly turned towards Logan.

Ah, so Duncan wanted to finally spill the beans about his new love interest. Fine with him. "DK! You having the hots for another girl?" he leered and chuckled. "Now that's some good news. Who's the lucky lady? Do I know her? You already hooked up with her?"

Finally, Duncan turned around but still avoided to directly look at Logan. "Yeah well, no. It's - Meg," he answered quietly.

Falling back on his parent's heritage, Logan raised an eyebrow and gave a short, surprised laugh. "Meg? As in Meg Manning? Cheerleader? And probably the last virgin in our year?"

Duncan frowned disapproving. "Yeah, her."

"You go, DK," Logan remarked dryly and flopped down into the big comfy chair in the corner.

Apparently nervous, Duncan started to pace. "I haven't said or done anything yet. Meg just broke up with Cole and it's been a long relationship, but..."

"Dude, this is high school. I think the what, two months, are long enough for her to mourn that idiot," Logan interrupted him and shook his head. "You should just get it over with, ask her out." He smirked. "I doubt she'll ever say no."

Duncan stopped and turned to Logan, giving a small smile. "Well - I do have this idea for asking her to the 'Total Eclipse Of The Heart'-party. Don't you think that would be a perfect opportunity to reveal my feelings to her?"

"If you want to wait all those weeks until then, sure, why not," Logan said with a shrug. "Just don't wait too long to ask her out. I hear Caz is pretty hot on her as well."

"Caz? Caz Truman? That idiot?" Duncan asked, frowning. "She's way too good and smart for such a loser."

"Dude, anyone is too smart for that dumbass. And yet he's pretty popular with the ladies," Logan reminded him. "Being the captain of the football team does that to you. And Meg is a cheerleader after all though I do think she'll take you way before Caz. I'm just saying that you shouldn't wait too long."

Duncan thought about that for a moment before he nodded and sat down onto the bed. "Yeah, you're probably right. You know, I thought anyway that I perhaps surprise her and do the secret admirer thing and then do the big revelation at the party. I think I'll do just that. I'm sure she'd like that, don't you think so too?"

"Hey, don't ask me, man," Logan though protested, holding up his hands. "I honestly don't know Meg enough for that. And you know me, I'm not much into waiting. I just go and get me my girl." He shrugged but then thought it over for a moment when he saw his best friend's dejected face. "But from what I get of Meg, sure, I think she'd love such a mushy romantic courting."

His face lightening up again, Duncan nodded again. "Yeah. Yeah, I think she'd really like that. You going to help me?"

Laughing, Logan stood up and went back over to join Duncan. "Sure Dude. Just say the word and I'll be your Cyrano."

"Ah, considering your grade in English I think I'll do the Cyrano myself, thanks," Duncan retorted dryly before grabbing the controls. "Come on, now I'll whip your ass."

Logan snorted but grabbed his controls as well. "You wish, loser."

* * *

"Why am I not surprised it's you?"

Logan grinned into the phone. "Just thought I let you know how much I appreciated the way you left me to explain to my best friend why I suddenly hang around with his ex who's supposed to be my archenemy."

"And for that you needed to call at one am?" grumbled Ronnie.

"Hey, I thought all these super secret meetings slash talks have to take place after midnight," Logan reasoned, his grin deepening.

"Right, that's why I came to see you today, in plain afternoon light," Ronnie replied dryly.

"Big mistake, super spy. I tell you, that ex of you got very, very suspicious. It took like ages to get him down from his high horse," Logan said, frowning. "You know what? I think he thought that you and I didn't just hang out together."

"Why? Did he say anything? How did he figure out that we're investigating him and his family? You didn't tell him, did you?" Ronnie rambled, alarmed.

Logan frowned a bit more. "Huh?"

"Duncan! What does he know?" Ronnie started to sound impatient.

"About the case?" Logan clarified.

"Logan!"

Making a face, Logan held the phone away from his ear. "Why do you think he knows anything about the case? Did he mention something to you?" he asked once he thought it was safe to put the phone back on.

"No! You said - argh!"

"Oh..." Logan said with sudden realization and shook his head, grinning. "Nah Ronnie. That's not it. I think he thinks that maybe, we hooked up. And boy, he sure didn't like that thought."

There was a slight pause. "Hooked up? As in - you and me, _hooked_ up?"

"I can spell it for you," Logan offered, generously.

"Duncan thinks... Why? That's just ridiculous!" Ronnie asked, sounding very perplexed.

Logan shrugged. "Dunno. Wasn't my idea."

They were silent for a moment.

"Ronnie?"

"Yeah?" Ronnie sighed.

"Why is it ridiculous?" Logan asked, frowning again.

"_What_?"

Logan nodded. "You and me. Why's that so ridiculous? I mean, you're hot and I'm hot. We like each other. You're funny and bitchy, I'm hilarious and obnoxious. Sounds like a perfect match. So why's it ridiculous?"

She didn't answer.

"Ronnie?"

"Logan, are you seriously asking this?" she finally asked.

"Uh - yeah?"

She sighed. "Logan - this is me and you. Remember? You were my best friend's boyfriend. I'm your best friend's ex. Does that ring any bells?"

"Oh, riiiiiight," Logan nodded. That was right.

"Logan - are you drunk?"

At Ronnie's question, Logan looked at the half empty bottle in his hand, then shook his head. "Nope." He made a pause, thinking for a moment. "Not so much," he then amended.

"Why?" she asked gently after a moment.

Logan laughed. "Did I ever need a reason to party a little, Ronnie?"

But instead of laughing as well and agreeing, she just repeated her question, even more softly. "_Why_?"

Absentmindedly, Logan looked away, bringing up the bottle to take another gulp. "Dunno," he finally said. "My girlfriend's dead, her killer's still at loose and might be one of her own family, my best friend obviously doesn't trust me and Mom called that Daddy dearest is coming home tomorrow, Hi Hi Ho. Thought I'd take a drink after all those good news."

"So your dad's coming back tomorrow, huh?" Ronnie asked conversationally after a second. "Guess that will be one big show."

Logan laughed bitterly. "You kidding? Two times Oscar winning actor Aaron Echolls comes home after crazy ex-lover stabs him in his own home. Loving wife and admiring son can't wait to have him back home, only happy that he's alive while doting daughter sends her love." He snorted. "It's going to be a fucking parade."

"You need to make an appearance?" Ronnie asked knowingly.

"If I remember the script correctly I'm supposed to rip open the door and rush out, give Dad a tight hug to then look stricken when I realize that I probably hurt him with that," Logan answered with a shrug, taking another sip of the bottle.

"Let me guess: his answer will be something like 'Don't worry son, I'm just happy to be back home and that you've forgiven me for my foolishness' and he pulls you back into a crushing hug?" Ronnie said dryly.

Elated, Logan laughed. "Ronnie! Why didn't you tell me that you've gone among the cheesy script writers? Or did they send you a script as well?"

She laughed too. "Nah, I just saw that coverage of you and your Dad in that soup kitchen and went along with that."

"Hehe, that was some show, wasn't it?" Logan asked gleefully.

"That you can say out loud. Though, I thought your dad was surprisingly good in his surprise when you announced his generous donation," Ronnie answered. "Almost like he really had no idea about that."

Logan just grinned but said nothing. God, his dad's face at that moment had been worth every single whip he'd gotten for that little stunt.

"Logan?"

"Hmm?"

"For when is the big show planned? Morning?" Ronnie asked.

"Elevenish," Logan answered.

"You free after that?"

Logan smirked. "Why, Ronnie, you asking me out on a date? Oh, that comes so sudden. I'm not sure we're already ready to go out all alone, without anyone guarding our non-existent virtues."

"Jackass," was her only response.

"And now even endearments. Ronnie, Ronnie, why didn't you just say how much you wanted me? Believe me, I'm sure we could have found an agreement on something," Logan drawled with an open leer.

"You know what? Just forget it," she huffed.

Loosing the smirk, Logan quickly tried to amend things. "Jeez, Mars, can't even take a joke anymore?" He sighed. "Need to remember that."

He wasn't quite sure if she was amended or not. But she did speak again after all. "You free now or what?"

This time, Logan cut the crap and just answered honestly. "I'm free. Why?"

"I've got to do an observation in Long Beach tomorrow. I thought maybe you'd like to come, learn the rope, see how it works, such things," she offered.

For a long moment, Logan was silent. Finally, he swallowed and smiled. "You're suggesting to get away for a little while," he corrected.

"It's just a good opportunity for you to pick up on a few things," Ronnie though protested. "But if you're not interested..."

"No, no, I'm all for learning new things," Logan interrupted her, grinning. "When should I pick you up?"

"Uh, not at all?" Ronnie said and you could almost hear the frown in her voice. "I don't think it's a good idea for you to show up here."

"I can stay in the car," Logan threw her objections away. "I'll honk," he added with a grin.

"Right, and my dad's not going to find that strange. I bet he'll just love it and send me on my way with a kiss onto the top of my head," Ronnie replied sarcastically. "Not to mention that I bet no one could ever guess whose car that yellow monstrosity is because really, everyone drives around in a big macho canary."

"Hey! You finally stop to offend my baby!" Logan warned her, annoyed.

Ronnie ignored him, of course. "Why don't we meet at Dog's Beach? We leave one car behind, drive out to Long Beach, do the observation and this way, no one will suspect anything."

"Fine," Logan agreed. "But don't even think for a second that we'll take your car. It's mine or we'll best meet directly in Long Beach - that is, if you ever make it there with that rusty heap you have the nerve to call a car."

"You continue like that and I won't treat you to a hot dog, mister," Ronnie told him matter-of-factly.

"You planning to feed me? Wow, Ronnie, I'm touched that you'll go to all those expenses," Logan retorted immediately.

"And that was your coke. Keep on, soon I'll just forget about the whole trip altogether," Ronnie replied even more dryly.

"And miss the opportunity to show off with all your acquired super sleuth skills? I think not," Logan said knowingly.

"Whatever," she mumbled. "Okay Logan, tomorrow, twelve thirty, that okay for you?"

Logan shrugged. "Sure."

"Good. Now write it down," Ronnie ordered him.

He frowned. "What?"

"Uh-uh, not going to work with me. I know you, Logan. You never remember anything when you're drunk. So you'll find a pen and paper now and write down 12:30, Dog's Beach, and add R or Ronnie if you want to, got it?" she demanded, her voice telling him that she was not kidding there.

"Come on, I'll sure remember this one in the morning! I'm not that drunk," Logan protested though, not making any attempts to do what she'd said.

"Logan! Note! Make it!" she just bellowed though.

Shaking his head, Logan waited a beat, counting the seconds. "Okaaaay, done," he then said.

She didn't buy it. "No, it isn't. Write it down, Logan."

"Jeez, Ronnie, really, that's just..."

"I don't care. I know you," she interrupted him, wryly. "Five times you stood me up after we've set something while you've been drunk. I'll wait five minutes tomorrow, then I'm on my way on my own. I've warned you."

"I didn't stand you up," Logan protested, frowning.

"Yeah, you did: once for a western marathon, once for the cinema, two times at the beach and one time for a study session in history you begged me for," Ronnie listed.

"I didn't forget the study session. I just didn't feel like it," Logan contradicted triumphantly.

"Just write it down, Logan. Remember, I'm not as forgiving as I used to be," Ronnie simply said. "And go to sleep now. You're no use when you're nursing a hangover."

Rolling his eyes, Logan saluted. "Sir, yes Sir."

"That's Mam or Captain, recruit," Ronnie replied. "Tomorrow, twelve thirty, don't be late."

Logan opened his mouth to give another reply but already, the dial tone rang into his ear. Miffed, he threw the phone away. That had been a way too abrupt end, he thought and took another long swallow. And she had some nerve, demanding him to write it down. Like he was going to forget that he was going on a field trip with Ronnie the next day. They hadn't hit the road since - well, since a long time. Especially just the two of them.

No amount of alcohol could ever make him forget that.

A note - Ha!

* * *

TBC!

_(Author's note: So here they were: Duncan's entries. Hope you liked them. As you've noticed, this goes more and more AU and boy, I'm looking forward to that. So of course, I'll still keep some of the wonderful things in this one for which we all fell so much for this great show. I'm already working on the next, mostly because originally, I wanted to include their trip into this chapter and so have been writing on that one for the last two days - yeah. Of course it gets way too long like that. But I do hope now that the next one will come much sooner than this one. Remember, I'm not abandoning any stories - and like every writer, I love the feedback you give me and thank you for that.)_


	8. 7 Confessions

**Chapter 7: Confessions**

"Told you you'd forget it," was the first thing Ronnie said to him when he pulled in next to her car at twelve thirty-three, looking all smug the way she sat on the hood of her rust bucket, drinking coffee.

Logan looked around, then back at Ronnie. "I'm here, am I not? Right on time. Somehow that contradicts your theory."

"You're just here because knowing you, I've reminded you of it with a text message," Ronnie said knowingly and slid down from the hood.

"Which I didn't need as I remembered it perfectly," Logan pointed out.

"Yeah? Before or after my text message?" Ronnie asked with a smile and reached into her car to get out a fully packed and heavy looking bag. "Or let's make this simpler: where are we going?"

"You know, being a know-it-all doesn't really suit you," Logan told her grumpily.

Her smile widened. "Where to Logan? To do what?"

He threw her a look that should have evaporated her. No such luck. "Observation," he answered shortly.

Ronnie though wasn't as easily silenced - of course not. "Still missed to name the destination, Logan," she practically sang as she opened the passenger door and climbed in to settle herself into the seat.

Giving it up, Logan shook his head. "Fine. I might have trouble to remember the exact destination. Just remember that it's South and a beach," he admitted through his teeth.

"Long Beach," she offered him with a sweet smile, not saying anything else.

But then, she didn't really had to, Logan thought darkly as he gave a tight nod and pulled out of the parking lot. He already had had better days, that much was clear, starting with him waking up with a bitch of a hangover, only to remember that he was supposed to make a show of his dad coming home in less than an hour. His still sensitive eyes had not taken the blizzard of flashing lights very well and the screamed, never ending questions from the paparazzi had only made the pounding in his head worse. Once it had been over finally and he was back in the security of his room he had had no intention to do anything else than sleep for the rest of the day.

That plan was shot to hell though as then, he had gotten the text message from Ronnie.

_12:30, Dog's Beach. PS: Told you you'd forget._

Nothing else, just that. It had taken him half an hour of hard thinking to vaguely remember him calling the little blond one and her mumbling something about an observation, about a note and he thought there was also something about food. There were also some bits and pieces of them bantering a little but really, most of it was lost in a big black void.

He had remembered after all though. Perhaps not everything, but he did remember that he was supposed to meet Ronnie. Eventually. So there was really no need for her to be so damn gleeful about it.

"So..." he spoke up when he hit the highway. "Who's the guy we're going to spy on?"

"We in the P.I. business prefer the term 'investigate' or 'do surveillance on'," Ronnie lectured him and pushed the seat a bit back to be comfortable with her bare feet against the dashboard. "And his name is Lenny Kovalovic."

"Feet down," Logan ordered, passing them a glare. "Remember, this is my noble ride, not some three class camper where you can stuck your stinky feet everywhere. And why are we investigating that guy?"

"Remembering your quirks I made extra sure that I've washed my feet three times and even went to the trouble to perfume them because I'm not going to spend a two hours ride sitting boringly in this seat," Ronnie countered and wriggled with her toes. "As to why we are so interested in Mr Kovalovic: His wife seems to think he's having an affair - or that he makes deals on the side. He's some import/export guy, made some serious money with it. She's his partner. Now we are supposed to prove to her one thing or the other."

"Nice to have such a trusty wife and partner," Logan remarked dryly.

Ronnie gave a short snort. "Please... trust is totally overrated and more than once simply unjustified."

Briefly, Logan glanced at her before he concentrated back onto the road. "Those are quite some new tunes, coming from you."

"Yeah well, I've learned better by now," Ronnie simply said.

Again, Logan glanced at her, his grip on the wheel tightening. He didn't like the simplicity with which she had just spoken. The old Ronnie used to be so very trustful - almost too trustful. Then again, he could hardly blame her. Lilly's murder, her own mother abandoning her, and jeez, he and the other kids at school sure had done a number on her. And still he hated her easy acceptance of it now and wished he could install some trust into her again.

"And how exactly are we going to prove that this guy is two-timing his wife one way or the other?" he asked, changing the topic.

"I've found out that he has a beach house in Long Beach, one his wife doesn't know about. And apparently, he has a meeting there at four pm today," Ronnie explained. "We're going to watch the house and see who he's meeting and what they are doing. We'll take pictures, try to get a money shot if it's an affair or see if we can listen in into the meeting should it turn out to be something else by placing a bug on the premise."

His head whipped around to stare at Ronnie while he slowed down. "Bug? As in bug bug?"

"I can assure you that there's not a jar of cockroaches in my bag," Ronnie smirked.

"You're too funny," Logan replied, concentrating back onto the road. But he grinned. "Hmm - so either we'll get to see some action or we go totally F/X and bug a house. Gotta give it to you, Mars: you sure know how to make an interesting afternoon."

Ronnie rolled her eyes. "Why thanks, I'm glad I fulfilled your high expectations of spending time more interestingly." She shook her head. "Just don't get too excited. It's rather boring than anything even remotely close to exciting."

"I can hardly believe that," Logan said, wriggling his eyebrows.

She shrugged. "Your call. Just don't tell me I didn't warn you when your ass is going to fall asleep."

"Hey, as long as it's just my ass," Logan countered with enough innuendo to save himself a leer sideward.

"I knew I'm going to regret asking you along sooner or later," she muttered. "So this monster Dolby surround system you seem to have installed recently: this just a mockup or can it really blast away your ears?" she asked more loudly then, eyeing his stereo.

Grinning, Logan activated it and her next words went under in the drums and hard guitar sound that blasted out of the boxes. He kept it like that for half a minute before he turned down the volume a bit.

"You said something?"

Her only answer was a deadly glare.

His grin widening, he sped up.

* * *

Of course the little know-it-all had been right once again. Ninety-seven minutes into the observation and Logan was bored out of his mind.

"You know, you drumming on the wheel will not make anything happen faster."

"It may prevent me from mummifying here though," Logan countered and groaned, looking back at Ronnie. "Come on Ronnie, how much longer are you going to make us sit here? There's a beach down there. At least we could go there to be bored out of our mind."

"One, the beach is private and us being there would definitely draw attention to us, something we don't want. Two, even if that weren't the case, I still wouldn't agree because some of this stuff," she pointed to the equipment in front of her, "is really sensitive and would not like at all to get sand into every slit. So no, Logan we'll just stay here and wait until he comes. It should be any moment now."

"That's what you've said already half an hour ago," Logan grumbled and let out a long, tormented sigh. "And really, why did we have to come here fricking ninety minutes early? We could have gone and gotten ourselves an ice or something like that."

"Hey, we're only ninety minutes early because you thought you'd try to out win a race against a jet," Ronnie protested. "And we're here early because we needed to set up everything."

"Oh yeah - a bit of fun for five minutes... Doesn't make this any less boring now though," Logan nodded slowly, giving her a look.

"At least now you know how to place bugs," Ronnie simply said, unimpressed.

"I'm sure that will look good on any college applications," Logan replied sarcastically.

Ronnie snorted. "Still better than excelling at drinking, playing video-games, nailing anything that walks and has boobs, throwing money away and did I forget something?"

"Surfing," Logan complied. "And just for the book: I don't nail anything that walks and has boobs. I nail anything that's scorching hot and walks and has boobs."

"Not to forget excelling at being a pig and a jerk." Ronnie shook her head. "How could I have forgotten that?"

Logan glanced at her for a moment, trying to gauge her mood. He was used to banter with Ronnie, either version of her. With the old one it had been more playful, with the new one pretty harsh. This now was a bit of a mixture between both of them. "Seriously Ronnie, why are you so keen on me doing this?" he asked, a little frown between his eyes.

She met his eyes briefly before fixing them back onto the house they were watching. "Isn't that obvious? If we're really doing this, going after a killer, then we probably should be well prepared. I've practiced this for the past year, learnt the rope. If you want to help, I need you to have this crash course."

Sounded logical enough - thing was just that he was pretty sure that Ronnie planned something and this here had something to do with that. "To do what?" he asked.

"Hmm?"

Logan smiled. "You know, Ronnie, you keep telling me that I can't fool you because you know me. But guess what? That goes both ways: I know you too." She looked back at him and he held her eyes. "I'm the guy who kept you company when your dad handled that hostage situation when we were fourteen and you were freaking out with worry and I'm also the guy you set up by planting a bong in my locker. So do you really think you can fool me so easily?"

"A girl can always try," she answered after a moment, smiling.

But the smile seemed a bit forced. Logan frowned. "Ronnie."

"I mean, you try it all the time as well, don't you?" she quickly retorted.

"Yeah, and to what avail?" Logan pointed out. "So what are you planning and not telling me?"

She smiled again, more real than before, and nodded. "I want you to bug Jake's office in their mansion, their phone, their living room and also Jake and Celeste's bedroom," she finally revealed, bluntly.

Logan's eyes widened. "You want me to do _what_?"

Not repeating herself, she just looked at him.

"Are you crazy?" Logan exclaimed, still staring at her. "I can't go bug their home!"

"No, you couldn't. That's why I've showed it to you today," she replied pragmatically.

"You know that's not what I've meant," he hissed, his stare turning to a glare.

She sighed and lost the smile. "Yeah, I know. But seriously, Logan. What do you suggest we do otherwise? The Kanes had something to do with the murder. It's not very likely that either Celeste or Jake will just start to talk to us after all this time. Duncan doesn't remember what happened. Somehow, we need to find out though. Either find evidence that they did kill Lilly after all or eliminate them so we can concentrate on our search for the real killer. Finding out something by bugging them won't count anything in court but at least we have some answers then. Or do you have a better idea?"

Shit.

Balling his hands into fists, Logan looked away. No. No, he had no better idea. He didn't have any ideas at all. Fuck it.

"I know you don't want to do this. That you hate it," Ronnie spoke again, softly. "And I understand that. You trust them, you like them. But fact is we're not making any progress, Logan. We need to do something else. And this is the only thing I can think of right now that might bring us a step forward." There was a slight pause and Logan felt her touch his arm hesitantly. "I'd do it myself, Logan, but I can't. I'm persona non grata for them. You though - you have unlimited access."

Logan shook his head. "I'm surprised you didn't ask me to bug Duncan's room as well."

She was silent.

"Fuck no - just no, Ronnie. Not that," Logan hissed. "No way."

"I didn't ask you to," Ronnie said quietly.

Logan laughed bitterly. "No, but you fucking want me to, don't you?"

"No," she sighed. "Not really. I don't think we'd find out anything by bugging him if not even his diary told us much."

"Oh - but you think we'll learn anything by listening in into what is going on in Jake and Celeste's bedroom?" Logan asked mordantly.

To his surprise, she laughed. "Come on, Logan, what do you think we'll hear? This is Jake and Celeste. You don't really think they still sleep together when they don't even sleep in the same bed anymore?"

Well - she had a point there. "Different rooms by now actually," he informed her and narrowed his eyes. "What do you think you'll gain by that then?"

"My little visit of Koontz set up a few alarms. If I keep letting them know that I won't be stopped in my search I bet they'll talk about it sooner or later," Ronnie explained. "They're careful of Duncan though so they'll either talk when he's out of the house or in the confinement of Jake's office or their bedrooms."

It made sense. Damn it! Gritting his teeth, Logan shook his head. "I don't like this."

"I know," she said softly.

He looked back at her, looked long and hard. Eventually, he looked away and sighed. When he had insisted on her telling him everything, she had warned him that he'd have to do things he wouldn't like. He had promised that he didn't care about that. And while he knew that she wouldn't seriously mind if he refused to do this now - he wouldn't back out. Would not leave her alone in finding Lilly's killer. He said he'd be in and he stood to that. He wanted her to trust his word.

"You better show it to me again then," he sighed, glancing back at her.

Her eyes studied him. "You sure?"

He glared.

Quickly, she nodded. "Okay, okay. I'll instruct you again before you go place the bugs."

Logan was just about to reply when he caught a movement out of the corner of his eyes. "Is that the guy?" he asked, nodding towards the man climbing up the stairs of the house they've been watching.

Her head snapped around and she started to grin. "Yeah."

"Looks like he's alone," Logan pointed out.

As soon as he had said that, a red convertible pulled into the drive-way and some really nice legs swung out. Logan gave a low whistle, his eyes roaming over the really short red mini skirt, the black stilettos, the black see-through top and the long, flaming red hair of the tall woman.

"Stop drooling."

Logan smirked. "That's one hot chick," he commented with a leer as he watched her climbing the stairs as well.

Silently, they watched as Kovalovic greeted the woman by giving her one long, long kiss.

"Hmm, guess it's door number one then," Logan smirked when they've vanished inside.

Ronnie nodded. "Looks like it. But let's see what happens next."

"You're the boss," Logan said with a shrug and watched with interest as Ronnie activated the bugs.

Moaning filled his car and Logan whistled again. "They sure didn't loose any time."

Pulling out her camera, Ronnie turned to him. "I'll try to get the money shot. You stay here," she told him and opened the door to get out.

"Like hell I will!" Logan protested and was out of the car faster than her.

"Logan!" she hissed, glaring at him.

"Hey, you've said I need to learn the rope," Logan argued and beeped his car locked. "So show me."

"It's too risky for both of us going to sneak up to the house," Ronnie huffed, her glare intensifying.

"Stop arguing, Ronnie, or we'll miss the money shot. Who knows how long the guy can keep it on?" Logan just smirked and headed towards the house.

Three steps and she grabbed his arm, yanking him back. "Fine, but you do what I say. Stay behind me, don't make any noise and just try to be invisible."

"Whatever you say, Yoda," Logan said grinning.

Giving him a last glare, Ronnie turned and proceeded to sneak up onto the house. Five minutes later they were hiding behind a bush of Azaleas and carefully taking a peek into the bedroom.

"Not bad for an old guy like him," Logan whispered into Ronnie's ear, grinning as he watched Kovalovic plunge into the sexy redhead.

Taking a few shots, Ronnie shrugged. "He's in his thirties."

"Old," Logan nodded and laughed lowly. "You go, buddy!"

Lowering the camera, Ronnie leaned her head to the side. "How can she even get into that position?" she asked with wonder in her voice.

Amused, Logan leaned more against her back and let his breath brush over her neck. "It's not that hard. You just need a little help from your partner." He let his voice drop a few notches. "If you ever feel like trying this one out, just give me a call. I'd be more than happy to help you out again, always your dutiful partner," he whispered into her ear, deliberately hovering very, very close with his lips against her collarbone.

Like he had expected it, he felt her stiffen against him and he smiled. Ronnie may have gotten tougher but she sure was still very funny and easy to tease with sexual innuendos - despite all the dirty jokes and rumors flying around at school about her and that special activity. He had to admit though that there was an extra pleasure to tease her like that now. Actually, he might take a bit too much pleasure out of it, he thought with sudden realization.

"Come on, let's go. We've got what we need," she said and inched away from the window – prompting her to grind even more into Logan who hadn't bulged yet – in any way, thank Heaven. Though that was not going to stay so if they remained much longer in this position.

Yeah, he definitely liked it way too much.

She looked up at him, her eyes meeting his. And suddenly she smiled. "I thought we've talked about this last night, Logan. No matter how much more you beg, it's not going to happen." She pushed away from him and sneaked back away from the house, leaving Logan to stare after her, frowning.

_What?_

Coming back to his senses, he quickly followed her with big strides. "Hey! What was all that about?"

Stopping by the passenger door of his X-Terra, she looked back at him, smiling. "Oh, want to say you don't remember begging me to have sex with you last night?"

"I didn't," Logan immediately protested, sure that no amount of alcohol would make him that stupid. She just smiled and his confidence slowly failed. "Have I?"

"Door please?"

Still frowning at her, he impatiently beeped open the car. "I wouldn't have," he repeated, more certain again.

Ronnie opened the door and climbed in. Before she closed the door, she looked at him again, smiling even more. "Nope."

Logan suppressed a sigh of relief. He knew he wouldn't have been that stupid.

"You just claimed that we're both hot, fabulous and just with the right amount of bitchiness respective jerkiness to be a perfect match and wanted to know just why I initially abandoned the idea of you and me together as ridiculous when you told me about Duncan's suspicions," Ronnie added and with a loud bang pulled the door close.

He stood there, frozen, staring at her. No – no, he hadn't said and asked something so dense – had he? There was no way he'd have asked something this stupid. Him and Ronnie? Ridiculous! She was Duncan's ex, for God's sake! No way would he ever go after his best friend's ex, a guy just didn't do that. Okay, so maybe there had been a few times he had thought about Ronnie like that - the new and the old one. So what? She _was_ hot, hotter than the old Ronnie ever had been, and he was a healthy, near seventeen years old boy. It would be abnormal if his body wouldn't react to an especial luscious sight.

And technically, she was Duncan's sister, wasn't she? Maybe at least. So it wasn't like Duncan could ever get back together with her.

But still, it was ridiculous.

As her being doubled over with laughter proved only too starkly, he thought glooming and stalked around the car to get in.

"You can stop now, you know. It really grows old very fast," he growled, glaring at her.

"God, your face! You should have seen it! It was priceless!" she gasped, still laughing.

"Yeah, I get it, I'm hilarious," he grumbled. "Can you stop now and tell me what's the plan now? We wait till they leave again to get back your equipment? Or can we leave finally?"

Her laughter dying down to occasional chuckles, she took a deep, calming breath. "I'll let the equipment in place for a few more days, see if his wife might also be right about him betraying their firm as well. This house doesn't look exactly cheap. His wife holds the books and keeps a tight lid on the finances. So from where had he the necessary bucks to afford this little playhouse?"

"By doing a little something on the side?" Logan asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Exactly. And what better place to do illegal deals than here, in this house his wife doesn't know about?" Ronnie asked back.

Logan nodded. "Sounds like you're on to something. So we're coming back here?"

She glanced at him. "You don't have to come again. I can do it alone."

"Nah, it's okay. I don't mind," Logan said with a shrug. "Okay, but we're finished for today then, I do get that right, don't I?"

"Yep, the little grey cells don't seem to have taken any damage in your combination skills, despite all that drinking," Ronnie nodded.

Logan ignored that jab. "So back home?"

Ronnie shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

Logan shook his head and started the car. "We drive two long hours to get out here, bore ourselves to death for another two hours and now we head back? Somehow, that really doesn't add up to me." He frowned and glanced at her. "Actually, I think I remember something about you mentioning food."

She rolled her eyes. "You didn't remember about this trip but you remember me saying I'll treat you for a hot dog?"

Treat him? Logan grinned. "What can I say: my brain only registers what's really important. But after this bore I demand more than a hot dog." He hesitated for a moment. "There's a place I know where we could go to to grab something to eat. Food's good and it's not too fancy."

"Sounds good," Ronnie simply agreed and leaned back. "How comes you know Long Beach this well?"

"Mom used to come here with me when I was a kid. There are no paparazzi here," he said with a shrug. "In LA we couldn't go to the beach without at least three of the hounds following us. Hardly anyone recognized us here and we could have some normal day at the beach."

Plus, they've come here to escape his father. But he wasn't going to tell her that.

"That's nice. You two still come here?" Ronnie asked, glancing at him.

Logan kept his eyes glued on the road. "Been a while," he answered evasively. Like a few years. Before they've moved out of LA actually. Before she started to find her escape in happy pills and champagne. But then, after a moment, he surprised himself by continuing. "But I still come out here occasionally. Especially…" he swallowed and finally shot her a quick look. "Especially this past year," he admitted, barely above a whisper.

She was silent for quite a while, looking out the window on her side. Frowning, Logan shook his head and cursed himself as he slowed down for a red light. What on Earth had him possessed to blurt all that out to Veronica?

"I get that. When I need to get away, I usually just drive out, see where it lands me. As long as it's no place with any connection to Lilly."

Startled out of his thoughts, Logan looked back at her, her face still turned away from him.

"Back in Neptune, Lilly's everywhere, isn't she? The beach, the mall, the school, our homes, the cinema theaters, the damn car wash shop – she's there, our memories of her are routed all over town," Ronnie said as quietly as Logan had spoken before. "Sometimes, that's good, 'cause at least this way, she's still with us, at least in some way, and sometimes…"

"It just fucking hurts and at one point, it just gets too unbearable," Logan finished for her when her voice trailed off.

Ronnie finally turned her head towards him again and she looked him straight in the eyes. "Yeah."

Logan gave a silent nod before he turned his attention back to the road. The lights were still red.

"So… this place: they've got a specialty?" Ronnie asked in a perky voice as the light turned to green and Logan started to drive again.

Taking a deep breath, Logan let it out again. Then, he smirked. "This is Long Beach, Ronnie. What good place here doesn't offer the deep blue sea's delicacies as their very own specialty?"

"Fish and chips, huh?" Ronnie stated dryly.

He pouted at her. "I'm hurt, Ronnie. You really think I'd drive all this long way to bring you to a cheap fish and chips shop? How could you? I'm a man of standards."

"No protest about that though I might add that usually, your standards are not that high, Echolls," Ronnie replied with a shrug.

Logan shot her a look. "I, my dear Veronica, have nothing than high standards."

"Sure," she drawled. "That's why Dick Casablancas is your newest tight buddy, huh?"

"Dick's not that bad," Logan defended his friend.

She just gave him a pointed look, a look Logan chose to ignore. Yeah, Dick really wasn't so bad, he thought, unwillingly thinking back to the time he had realized that little fact. Then again, he could hardly tell Ronnie about that time. She'd probably have his balls then - right before she went and changed her file about him from eliminated suspect to suspect number one for the murder of Lilly.

No - he couldn't really tell her.

But then why was he feeling this overwhelming urge to do just that?

* * *

"I'll try the fish empanadas plus nachos," Logan ordered and glanced at Ronnie. "And a coke, please," he added with a sigh. A beer or even better yet something stronger just wasn't worth the trouble he'd get from the tiny blond one. She might tell the waiter that they weren't even eighteen yet. Or she might insist on driving home and that was certainly not going to happen.

"Hmm..." Ronnie said, still studying the menu. "Okay, I think I'll take the grilled swordfish, but with fries please. And make that a double portion. With a cocktail and a chilly salsa please. And a big ice tea. Thank you," she ordered, smiled charmingly and handed the waiter the menu back.

"Still big on appetite, huh?" Logan smirked, once the waiter left to pass along their orders.

"A girl's got to eat," she answered with a shrug, still smiling though.

"That she got," he nodded. "Especially such a tiny one as you, I guess, though I doubt you'll grow much more."

Ronnie rolled her eyes. "Don't you ever get tired of all these jokes about my perfectly fine size?"

Logan grinned and shook his head. "No, no I think not. Your tinyness is a source of never ending inspiration."

"Lucky me," she muttered darkly, causing Logan's grin to widen.

"Indeed you are," he agreed. "Though I must say it's a refreshment to be in the company of a girl again who actually can eat." He made a face. "The girls are obsessed with diets again lately and you can only stand so much of boring talk about how much calories that yoghurt or this salad dressing may have."

"Aww, poor Logan," Ronnie mocked, her eyes dancing. "But I honestly can't blame them. Madison really got a bit buggy around the middle which amazes me, after all, she'd be the first girl to get fat on the cafeteria food."

"You better don't let her hear you call her fat," Logan advised but didn't bother to hide his grin.

"Oh, I think I can take her on. Madison Sinclair isn't even playing in my league anymore," Ronnie answered, unfazed.

Logan leaned back, studying her for a moment. No - he guessed Madison really was no match for Veronica anymore. He had made sure of that.

"Boy, she's been furious with you after you cost her her pirate points," he laughed, shaking his head. "And Dick hasn't forgiven you for that either because guess who orders and pays her lunch now."

She grinned back. "I'm crushed. To have lost their love and trust. What will I ever do now?"

"Wither and die, I'm sure," Logan nodded as seriously as he could muster.

"I guess so," she sighed and then the both of them couldn't hold it in any longer and broke out in jovial laughter.

The waiter came back with their drinks and they fell silent, simply smiling at each other and sharing the private joke. Eventually though, he felt Ronnie turning more serious again.

"And Duncan really thought that you and me..."

His amusement fading fast, Logan nodded shortly. "Yeah."

"How did he get that harebrained idea?" she wondered.

Logan shrugged. He didn't really want to talk about it but he got that Ronnie was curious - and needed some answers. Too bad that he wasn't the one who could give them to her. "Beats me. But that's what he had assumed after walking in on us yesterday."

Ronnie frowned. "What did you tell him?"

"That I declared my undying love to you and we planned to run away to Vegas to get married in a Elvis chapel?" he replied sarcastically.

She shot him a real good death glare.

He sighed. "That he's crazy and all we are is friends?"

"He got a problem with that too?" Ronnie wanted to known, the frown still marring her forefront.

"Oh no, he's thrilled to have us ended out war," Logan assured her with a snort. "Though I got the feeling that he's still not too happy about us spending much time alone."

"I just don't get him," she muttered, frowning down into her glass.

For a moment, Logan studied her before he let out another sigh. For a girl as smart as she was, she sure was dense sometimes. "Ronnie - he may be your half brother but at the bottom line, your his ex-girlfriend foremost and no guy would like his best friend hanging out much with said ex, especially if he still has feelings for that girl - as inappropriate they may be."

Her eyes flew up to him, only to dart away again. "But we've always been friends - ever since we've met, which was even before we realized that our best friends were brother and sister," she reasoned after a while, sounding confused.

"Yeah. But then, we were first too young to be much interested in each other in a very naughty way and later it was rather obvious where our interests laid, wasn't it?" Logan told her. "It's different now. We may not feel like that and know how ridiculous that idea is but who said Duncan's always the rational guy his parents want him to be? We both know that's not the case."

Slowly, Ronnie looked back at him, her eyes searching his until Logan grew rather uncomfortable under her scrutinizing gaze.

"Logan Echolls, when did you grow to be such an insightful, wise man?" she asked in awe, smiling.

Relieved that she had saved their conversation from getting even more depressing, he was quick to flash her his trademark smirk. "But Veronica Mars, I've always been that man. I just chose not to have it be common knowledge."

"And rather act to be a psychotic jackass," she stated dryly.

His grin was malicious. "Which is a lot more fun than to be just a boringly good guy."

"Ah and we all know that you live to have fun," Ronnie said, rolling her eyes.

"What else is there to live for?" Logan nodded, winking at her.

She chuckled and shook her head, not bothering to say anything in return. Instead, her smile dimmed and she sighed. "I guess the cat is out of the bag, now that Duncan knows about us being back to friends, huh?"

"Yeah about that: I told him to keep it to himself for the time being," Logan told her, starting to tap the table with his fingers impatiently, hoping the food would come soon so they could change the topic again.

Ronnie lifted an eyebrow. "And he agreed to that?"

Logan shrugged, looking towards the kitchen. "Well, he didn't say it explicitly but I got the impression he'll play along for the time being. Not understanding it and not liking it but he'll do it anyway."

"What did you tell him about our reasons for the secrecy?" Ronnie asked curiously.

"That it was your idea and that, seeing as our friends are not exactly our biggest fans, we want to have some time to first find a balance and grounding to our friendship again before going public," Logan answered.

"Hmm... that doesn't sound half bad," she said slowly.

"You don't have to sound so surprised, you know?" Logan told her, frowning slightly.

She just smiled. "So Duncan bought that?"

"Seems like. He did warn me though to not try to play any games with you," he added, darkly.

"Like fooling me into trusting you and our friendship again to only find out that you've strung me along all the time to give me that one final blow that will crush me once and for all?" Ronnie asked, raising her eyebrow again, a smile tugging at her lips.

Logan narrowed his eyes on her. She hadn't thought about this as well, hadn't she? "Yeah."

The corners of her mouth lifted up another notch. "Not going to happen," she said, certainly.

Still scrutinizing her, Logan slowly shook his head. "No," he assured her. He wasn't sure if she was referring to not letting herself be hurt like that or to not believing he would do it but either way, it wasn't going to happen and he wanted her to be clear about that.

She held his eyes and the ghost of a smile turned to a full out smile. "No," she agreed softly.

"Okay, we have one empanada and one swordfish."

Startled, Logan looked up to see another waiter standing at their table, looking impatiently.

"The empanada's for me," Ronnie spoke up and moved her napkin out of the way.

Frowning, Logan shot her a look and opened his mouth to protest but already, the guy put down Ronnie's fish and fries in front of him and strolled away with big strides, muttering a " There you go.".

In the meantime, Ronnie had grabbed her knife and fork and happily dug in into Logan's empanada.

"Hey! That's mine!" he protested and reached for his plate.

She slapped his fingers with one hand while picking up one of the nachos. "Not anymore. I confiscated it."

"If you want empanada, then order you your own. Now give me my food back!" he told her with a glare.

"Nope."

"Veronica!" he hissed and reached for his plate once more, only to have his hand slapped away again. Glaring at her, he shook his head. "I warn you."

Scrunching up her face, she shrugged, put down the cutlery and leaned back, crossing her arms in front of her. "Fine, whatever, take it. But don't expect me to rush you to the hospital when you go into an antiepileptic shock. And don't even think for a second that I won't tell you 'told you so'."

He paused. "What?"

She sighed. "You ever had this empanada here?"

"No, they hadn't had it before. But what..."

"Logan, it's a _fish_ empanada. And most people don't put just fish in it but also a bit calamari and mussels and crab," she said, her eyes boring into his. "As in shellfish. So unless you're no longer allergic to shellfish I suggest you eat my swordfish and I eat the empanada."

Slowly, Logan sat back, his eyes flying from Ronnie to the empanada and back to Ronnie. "I ate fish empanada before," he argued.

"Home cooked by Mrs Navarro or some other cook?" Ronnie asked calmly. "Who knows perfectly well that you're allergic to shellfish?"

Beginning to feel like a fool, Logan nodded.

Ronnie sighed again. "Look, if you're really so eager to eat empanada we can ask if the cook used any shellfish. Or you order one with meat."

"Nah, it's okay," Logan said quietly and sat up. He grabbed his own fork and knife and cut himself a bit of the fish. "This one's probably better anyway."

Stealing a fry, Ronnie grinned. "Dunno. This empanada is fairly good."

Taking another bite of the fish, Logan looked down at his plate. "Thanks," he said softly, glancing up at her.

Ronnie simply shrugged. "No problem. Though, one could think that someone who's as highly allergic to something as you are would know more about what he should better not even touch unless he has made it himself."

"I do," Logan defended himself and glanced at the empanada. "I just ate empanada so many times already that I didn't thought about it anymore." He looked back at Ronnie. "I'm surprised you still remember that."

She looked at him incredulously. "What? Forget the day I got the scare of my life when you suddenly started to convulse on the floor and had to be rushed to the hospital?" She pushed a nacho around on her plate with the fork. "I was real scared that day. I thought you might die," she almost whispered before shaking her head. "No, I don't think it's possible I'll ever forget that little tidbit about you."

Swallowing, Logan stared at her. He opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it again, looking down at his plate. What could he say? How much it meant to him that she remembered his allergy when his own father and sister forgot it on a regular basis? Tell her how sorry he was about the last year again? She had said herself that they should just move on. But he was. He really was. He couldn't understand anymore how he could have forgotten just what a great friend Veronica Mars had been to him. How much he had loved spending time with her, how easy it was to relax in her company. Or how freeing it was to talk with her. Alone today he had felt many wounds starting to heal that had been open for a long time now. Lilly. His more and more fucked up friendship with Duncan. Her.

Yeah. Ronnie was a great friend - and this time, he wasn't going to fuck it up again. This time, he was going to hold on to that friendship, no matter what.

Even if it meant that he would have to tell her about some things he really didn't want to tell her. But he knew her. And if she found out about them on her own, in some twisted way, she would never trust him again. Refuse to be his friend any longer. So he had to tell her. He just knew it.

Damn - that was going to be an unpleasant talk.

* * *

When they left the restaurant, Logan had decided that he was going to bite into the sour lemon and come clean with Ronnie once and for all.

Easier said than done, he thought darkly and glanced at the beach before turning to the petite blond at his side. "Walk on the beach?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.

She gave him a look but just nodded.

Silently, the two walked the beach way down, jumped down from it and walked closer to the water.

They've walked perhaps fifteen minutes when Veronica broke the silence. "Logan, are you okay?"

Coming out of his deep thoughts, Logan looked at her. "Hmm?"

"You're awfully quiet ever since the food had arrived," Ronnie said, frowning up at him. "If you're one thing not, then quiet. It's never good when you're quiet. So - what's up?"

For a moment, Logan was tempted to smile. No, he wasn't exactly the silent type. Then though he remembered that after he had told her what he had to say, this might be the last time they talked like that - be together like that. Considering that he had spent over a year without Ronnie as his friend, because he had pushed her away none the less, this prospect shouldn't scare him much. But it did scare him. He wasn't ready to loose what he and Ronnie had now again.

He needed her back in his life, these holidays had proven that to him more than enough.

Perhaps he worried for nothing. Perhaps Ronnie wouldn't freak out about it. Or if she did, listen closely and forget about it, forgiving him instantly.

The old Ronnie would have. But this wasn't the same Ronnie anymore. And everything he had learned about the new Ronnie warned him that he was to head face forward into a very big and bad storm.

"Logan! Hey!"

And spacing out on her would probably not help his cause, he thought sarcastically and stopped, turning to look down at her. "I need to ask you something," he blurted out, pushing his hands deep into the pockets of his jeans.

"Okay?" she said, raising an eyebrow.

"If... Suppose I don't have an alibi - would you really believe then that I actually could have hurt Lilly like that? Killing her?" he asked, staring into her eyes, sure that she must be able to hear his heart beating loud and fast against his chest, even over the waves breaking at the shore behind him.

"What?" she asked perplexed, starting to frown. "Why do you ask such a question?" Her eyes narrowed. "Is this about Duncan?"

Impatiently, Logan shook his head. "No! I just - I just need to know if you really think I could have done that, regardless if I have an alibi or not. Do you think I'm capable of having killed Lilly?"

Her frown deepened. "Why?"

Exasperated, Logan threw up his arms. "Can't you just answer my question? God, Ronnie, it's not as if I want to know your deepest secret. I'd just like to know that you know me well enough to know that I would have never hurt Lilly, not like that, not by bashing her head in with an ashtray."

"And again I wonder why this is suddenly so important to you," Ronnie countered, her eyes scrutinizing him. "Where does this come from?"

Of course, when he had decided to do this, he had totally forgotten how very much irritating this new Veronica Mars could be, friend or not. "I don't think you could have done it, ever," he said, deciding to try it in another way.

And it seemed to work as she nearly screeched. "_What_?!"

He nodded, staring at her. "Come on - theoretically, you could have done it. You don't have an alibi for the time of her death either. You've been her best friend. It would be easy to make people believe that in a fit of jealousy or rage you might have killed her." Ronnie's face was quickly taking on a deep, angry shade of red and he held up his hands. "But I know better," he hurried to assure her. "I know that you would never have lifted even a finger against her. Because you loved her, because I've seen how close you were to her. And I also know that if you could, you would trade places with her in a heartbeat." He took a deep breath and forced himself to a carefree shrug. "I dunno. I guess I'd just like to know that you know and trust me like that as well."

Ronnie stared at him. And she stared some more. And more again.

Logan thought he was going crazy there. Hell, he probably was already crazy. He should never have started with this in the first place. Why was he so harebrained to think that she really needed to know? She didn't. They could have figured out who the killer was and she never had to learn about his real whereabouts during Lilly's murder. God, just what devil had ridden him to want to come clean with her?

"You want to know if I think you could have killed Lilly?"

His thoughts stopping abruptly, Logan turned all his attention back to the tiny little blond girl in front of him. Swallowing, he nodded.

"I can't tell you that though. Because I don't know," she said and Logan's eyes widened in horror. "Initially, I'd say no. Not ever. Not Lilly. Not the boy I've known since we were twelve, not the guy who had been my friend and protector for four years, driving me crazy with his constant teasing and leering but at the same time being the one who wouldn't leave me alone for a second while I waited to get news about my dad after that junkie had shot him during the raid in that crack hole two years ago. This guy, you, could never have hurt anyone like that, let alone Lilly." Tears glistened in her green eyes, but they didn't escape their prison. "And the girl I've been during those four years would never have believed anything like that even for a millisecond."

"Ronnie..." Logan managed to get out through his suddenly very tight throat but didn't get any further.

She shook her head, her eyes boring into his without mercy. "But I'm not that girl anymore. That girl started to die when the boy she had loved discarded her like a pair of worn out socks. She died when her best friend was murdered. She died when that same great friend she depended on so much shoved her aside and turned his back on her, along with all of her other friends. She died when her mother left her with nothing more than a stupid, meaningless note." Ronnie was breathing hard now but still, no tears were spilled. "And the last shreds of that girl died that morning when she woke up and had to realize that she really could trust no one and nothing again, not even her own instinct, her own judgment."

"Ronnie, please..."

"_I_'ve learned not to trust anymore, Logan. Nothing and no one. I trust facts and certainties now and only them. So no, Logan, I can't tell you if I believe you could have done it or not, I can't do you that favor," she said in a final, bitter voice. "But then, why should you be worried about that? You were out of the country with two eyewitnesses, that's an airtight alibi. And yet here you are and asking me what I'd think if you hadn't had that alibi." Her eyes narrowed, turned cold. "Something you would never even think about asking if you didn't have a very good reason. So why don't we cut this crap short and you just tell me what's wrong with your alibi. Did you lie about it?"

Logan swallowed three times before he managed to answer her. "No," he said quietly and shook his head. "But Dick and Beav did."

Ronnie's eyes turned frosty. "Meaning?"

Pressing his lips together, Logan took a deep breath. "Meaning that the moment they heard about Lilly's murder they decided to tell everyone who would ask that I've been with them in Tijuana the whole weekend."

"And where were you really?" she asked tonelessly.

Unable to stop himself, Logan looked away from her, turning to gaze out to the sea. "I went to Tijuana because I wanted to get away from Lilly, forget about her. But instead of forgetting everything and drown in booze and hookers, I just couldn't get her out of my mind. I was going crazy with wondering with whom she had cheated on me. And who she was doing right then. I was mad because she had the nerve to break up with me over a stupid kiss she had practically asked for while I should just be okay with her sleeping around and at the same time I just wanted to beg her to take me back again." He swallowed and ran with his fingers through his hair. "It wouldn't leave me any rest anymore so in a frenzy, I decided to drive home and confront her, talk with her. To break up once and for all, to get back together, I didn't know. I just needed to see her, clear this. So I left Tijuana first thing in the morning and came back to Neptune."

Ronnie was silent for a long while. When she finally spoke, her voice was devoid of any emotions. "And then? Did you find her and talk with her?"

"No, I didn't talk with her," Logan sighed and looked back at Veronica. "I was there, you know. At the carwash. I was parked across the street and I just watched her. You and her. You seemed to have a good time but even from across the street I could see that you weren't really happy, still mourning after Duncan - and Lilly - oh, she _really_ had a good time. We weren't over for a week and there she was, as happy as she ever had been, with apparently not a single thing marring that beautiful afternoon while I was a complete mess." He shook his head and laughed bitterly. "And the weird thing? I wasn't even really mad about it. That was just how Lilly was. But while watching her I suddenly got this feeling, this calm and I just knew that it was over. Really over. For good. No more on and off again, no more games, no more Lilly and Logan, Logan and Lilly. It was over and it was final and instead of being pissed off or sad or bitter I was just feeling free. I was free of Lilly Kane. Finally free."

For a while neither of them said anything, gazing out to the sea. It was Logan who first spoke again. "Don't get me wrong: I've loved Lilly. And we had a great time together. But in our last few months together, things had been different, had lost their shine. She was stringing me along, Ronnie, playing with me but only when she wanted to and always provoking me when she wasn't feeling like being a girlfriend. When she didn't felt like it, she just pushed me aside, always keeping me on a leash though. And I? I let her do it because despite all that, I didn't want to loose her. Couldn't let go of her and what we had had for those two years we've been together. But I was tired of it and that night, when you caught me kissing that girl, I finally had enough of being made a fool of by one Lilly Kane, to be her sex toy she could get out of the cupboard whenever she felt like it. I was pissed and so I decided to take revenge for all the times she played on my jealousy, one time even having the nerve to come to me, reeking after sex." Logan finally dared to glance at Veronica again, searching her eyes. He didn't find any answers in them, but some of the ice in them had melted. "And then there I sat and suddenly, just like that, it was simply over and yeah, I was almost relieved."

"And then?" Ronnie asked, her voice guarded.

"Instead of talking with her I wrote her a letter. To say goodbye. I left it in her car along with a tequila shot glass I brought her from Tijuana," Logan answered, never taking his eyes off her. He needed her to believe him. "Then I got back in my car and drove out here. I wanted to be alone, think, come to terms with this. I might not have been bitter or even mad but Lilly and I had been together for two years. She's been the first girl I loved, the first girl I had sex with. She was - Lilly. I just had to get it through my head that we were really over. So I came here." He gulped and dropped his head, closing his eyes. "When you called me that night - I was here, somewhere on this beach. We stayed on the phone that night, remember? I passed out and when I woke up I was still here. I headed back and came straight to you," he finished, raising his head to search for her eyes again.

They watched him, searched him. He held her eyes.

"Did someone see you?" she asked after what seemed like an eternity.

He shrugged. "Yeah. But I doubt they'll remember me anymore than I remember them."

"Bought something somewhere? Food, something to drink?" she asked further, her hands pushed deep into her pockets. "Paid anything with one of your cards?"

Frowning, Logan tried to remember. "I refilled the tank and paid with the card but that was on the way back from Mexico. I hit a store to buy some liquor and I think I bought a hot dog sometime but those things I paid by cash." He shook his head. "I can't prove that I've been here and not in Neptune, Ronnie. I don't have an alibi. But I didn't kill her. I could have never. You must believe me that!" he pleaded her, taking a step towards her.

Giving him a look, she turned away from him, running her hands through he hair.

"Ronnie?" Logan whispered, his heart beating fast as he took another step towards her. "Please." When she still didn't react he shook his head. "Come on Ronnie, why would I tell you this if I'd done it? Like you said, my alibi was airtight. I didn't have to admit that it wasn't correct. I could have just kept silent and no one would ever have known. But I didn't, because I wanted you to know the truth."

At last, she looked at him. "Dick or Beaver could have threatened you to come forward and tell the truth. Or you could tell me this now to make me believe you, fool me into thinking you haven't done it but really, you had."

"Now that's just fucking ridiculous," Logan protested incredulously.

"Oh yeah? You just told me that you knew that your girlfriend was sleeping around on you. You said yourself that you've been mad. That story about your sudden peace over the end of your relationship with Lilly is nice and all, but really, it is a bit strange for you, isn't it?" she asked lowly, her eyes shooting holes into him. "Considering your jealousy and sense of revenge, your maliciousness and your hang to get real angry real fast it's a far more likely scenario that you followed her and then confronted her about her affair. You lost control and lashed out. And after that you still could have headed out here, avoiding to be seen back in Neptune and waiting for someone to call you and tell you. You're the son of actors. Acting runs in your family and you've always been better at it than your dad. It would have been easy for you to act devastated about Lilly."

Flabbergasted, Logan could only stare at her. "You believe that crap? You really believe that? That I could be so cold? That I killed Lilly?" Getting angry, he stepped up to her and stuck a finger right into her face. "No matter how angry I got I would have never lost it like that, Veronica. Never! _I. Didn't. Kill. Lilly_!"

She was still, didn't say anything, just stared up at him. It said enough.

"Fuck!" Logan hissed and abruptly stepped back, running a hand through his hair. Turning away from her, he dropped down to sit in the sand, burying his head into his arms. This was so goddamn fucked up.

"There's one thing I believe: that you've spent the night at a beach. I remember that morning. You were all sandy. It was everywhere. In your hair, in your shoes, in your clothes and half of that sand you lost in my room. Even three weeks later I still found sand here or there," Ronnie said quietly after a long while. "But of course that doesn't mean much."

No, he guessed it didn't. Shit. How could he have been so stupid to believe that Ronnie, this Ronnie, would believe him? Why hadn't he just kept his mouth shut?

"Do you remember the day you bashed in my headlights?" Ronnie asked after another five minutes of unbearable silence in which he beat himself mentally up had passed.

Logan didn't bother to answer. She knew perfectly well that he was hardly to forget that day. No wonder she believed he could have killed Lilly.

"You' were so angry then. Angrier than I've ever seen you apart of that time you confronted me about Dad's investigation. And the hate and rage in your eyes... I hadn't expected you to get so angry over my little prank," she continued. "I worried what else you would do in that furious state you were."

Shaking his head, Logan looked up at her. "Look, I'm not proud of that time. And yeah, I was beyond angry with you back then and yeah, I took it out on your car. But God, Ronnie, I would never have taken it out on you! Just like I would never have taken it out on Lilly either."

She held his eyes, scrutinizing him once again. "I know."

"And I - _what_?" Logan asked, his eyes widening.

Ronnie sighed and very slowly stepped closer until she stood right in front of him, staring down into his eyes. "I know. I should have been afraid, shouldn't have trusted you in any way - but I wasn't afraid, not for a second. You wouldn't have hurt me. Perhaps bashed up my car so much that the grape yard would have been the only place it could have gone to afterwards but you wouldn't have hurt a hair on me. I knew that deep down in my bones and with everything happening so fast I never had time to ignore that instinct." Even more slowly, she crouched down to get on eye level with Logan. "Then, Weevil showed up. And what did you do? Leave and let him finish what you've started? No. Leave and leave me to my fate? No. No, instead you stepped up to face him." Her relentless gaze bored into his eyes. "You moved in front of me, blocked his way, ready to take him on. Fifteen bikers, keen on teaching me and Wallace a lesson for all we had known, and you moved right between me and them."

Logan worked his throat to say something, anything, but not one single tone passed his lips.

She smiled. "Did you think I hadn't noticed that?"

No. No, he hadn't thought that she'd noticed. Hell, he hadn't noticed it himself until he had stood in front of Weevil, brazing himself to probably get the shit beaten out of him for getting into the PCHer's way and spoil them their little revenge. But he still knew that he wouldn't let them hurt Ronnie, go after her, not as long as he was there. He couldn't, even if he did hate her and was furious with her. He just couldn't.

"I did," Ronnie said softly and finally, there was that softness in her eyes again he had hoped for all the time he had done this confessing. "You had just vandalized my car, you were furious with me, you hated me - yet, there you were, standing between me and a biker gang, ready to protect me, despite everything. And it was in that moment that I realized that my instinct had been at least right with you. You have no idea how much that had meant to me. To know that in all those years of friendship I haven't fooled myself in believing you to be a good guy ultimately. To have a proof that the boy that had been my friend hadn't just been an imagination. That I wasn't wrong with everything."

"So you..." Logan started to say but then stopped, unsure how to continue.

"I still don't trust my own instincts. I trust facts. And fact is, while you have a tendency to violence, at the bottom line, you're a protector. You've proved that time and times again. Whenever you took care of a guy bothering me or Lilly or even Duncan for that matter. When you went and slashed up the tires of the car of Trina's boyfriend after he had cheated on her and openly humiliated her when breaking up with her, saying some real nasty things about her. That day you were prepared to take on the PCHers on my behalf. And lastly when you realized that someone is threatening me and you forgot about our little war and went out of your way to first get at the bottom of that and then decided to stand with me, help me, even if that meant to befriend me again and confront everything that had gone down between us since Lilly's death. And even more, you spied on your best friend, have agreed to bug the family you've looked upon as your second family, just to help me find out the truth at last, because despite everything, you believed me." She took a deep breath. "Protectors usually don't kill, Logan. So no, I don't think you've killed Lilly. I have no proof for that, other than my knowledge of you and what my instinct tells me about you. And I'm willing to risk to trust that again. To trust you." Her eyes dropped and when they looked back at him, she suddenly seemed extremely vulnerable. "You better don't prove me wrong on that, Logan. I... I don't want to loose the trust in myself again."

Logan swallowed hard and tentatively cupped her cheeks with his hands. "I won't, Ronnie. I promise you, Veronica, your trust in me will not be disappointed again. I told you the truth."

She nodded silently.

His fingers lingered for a moment longer on her cheeks, running smooth circles on her soft skin. It wasn't hard to see that what she had just done and said hadn't been easy for her. Anything else. The more Logan was grateful for her decision to trust him again. The more he valued her trust. And he owed to himself that he wasn't going to disappoint her again.

He let his fingers drop and took her hands in his before leaning forward to kiss her on the cheek. "Thank you," he whispered, heartfelt, then stood up abruptly, pulling her onto her feet as well. "Come on, we should head back before that gun toting and overprotective worrynut of your dad puts out a bounty on the guy who has kidnapped his precious daughter," he said, forcing his voice to be as lightly as he could manage to.

"Okay, you're probably right. It really wouldn't do it if Dad shoots one of my few friends," she nodded, offering him a weak smile.

"Exactly," Logan nodded and the two made their way back to his car. "He wouldn't really shoot me, would he?" he asked after a moment, shooting her an uncertain glance.

She just smiled. Somehow, that worried him just a little.

Yeah, he'd better see to it that he got Ronnie home as soon as possible.

* * *

"So..." he dragged out after he pulled in beside her car and killed the engine, unsure what to say. The ride back had been fairly quiet, both of them choosing to rather listen to the music he had put on the second the had pulled away from the curb in Long Beach rather than talking with each other. "That was an interesting afternoon," he finally said.

She just nodded - but she didn't move to get out either.

Logan wasn't sure if he should be grateful for that or unnerved. On one hand, he really didn't want to part with her. He did enjoy her company, more than he had enjoyed anyone's company in a year. On the other hand, the air around them was still heavy after their talk at the beach, his confession and her incredible show of her trust into him ,and Logan was never good at dealing with heavy emotions so yeah, he would also have been glad if she'd just relieve them both, say goodbye and get out.

"Thanks for dinner," he said after another moment had passed. "Though you really didn't have to pay, you know," he added, frowning a little. That really hadn't been necessary.

Veronica shrugged. "A word's a word. I told you I'd treat you and really, it's only been fair. After all, you've agreed to help me with the observation and asked for nothing in return. It really is no big deal."

Perhaps. But that was before she had saved him at least a trip to the hospital. If not from worse a fate. Besides, it was just strange to let a girl pay for him, even if it was only Ronnie.

"Okay," he agreed anyway because really, there was no sense in protesting anymore. But next time, he was going to pay. No discussion. Apropos... "So when do you want to go back for your equipment?" Logan asked, expectantly. "Friday?" That would be in four days.

But she shook her head. "Nah, I can't. I'll meet Wallace in the afternoon to finish a history project for Mr Rooks. And Casey asked to meet me in the evening, eventually go see a movie. But what about Saturday?"

"Yeah okay," Logan nodded, slowly, frowning. She wanted to go out with _Casey Gant_ Friday night? Was she crazy? "You and Casey, huh?" he asked, nonchalantly. "Didn't thought the rumors were true after all."

She shot him a sideward glance. "We're just going to hang out a little. It's not like it's a date."

"No?" Logan asked, skeptically. He doubted very much that Gant hadn't a date in mind when he had asked her out.

"No," she assured and raised an eyebrow. "And even if it were, what it is to you?" She smiled. "Jealous?" she teased.

He rolled his eyes. "Please."

Though, the way he felt did feel a bit familiar. But nah, he sure wasn't jealous. That would be ridiculous. He was just concerned for Ronnie. Despite her harsh armor, she hadn't gone out that much, at least not that he knew of. There was Duncan and then there was Vandegraff. And jeez, they both sure had done quite a number on her. He just didn't want to get her hurt again and Gant could only hurt her again. He was a 09er, wasn't he? And a guy and not that a nice one, if he remembered correctly. So what would Gant want from Ronnie than perhaps a cheap fuck or whatever?

He shook his head, still frowning. "But seriously, what is it with you and Gant?" he asked, annoyed.

When she didn't answer immediately, he looked over at her to find her watching him with a surprise expression on her face. "What?" he asked defensively.

And she smiled suddenly, as if she had gotten something he was still missing. "Nothing. And Casey... I just want to help him. His own parents set him up and had him brainwashed by one of these deprogrammers, you know. Just because they were afraid he'd take them the money away. He left the hippie-commune and is back driving a Porsche - but still, he had changed, was happier and part of him remembers that and wants that back I guess. And he remembers that we've been - talking. Getting to be friends." Her eyes softened. "That I've been there when his grandmother was in the hospital, when she had died. I think that's why he's still hanging around me occasionally. So I meet him when he wants to." Her eyes hardened, got furious. "I'll help him get his own free will back as much as I can. What his parents did to him was not right. More, it was unforgivable. They're supposed to love him, protect him, want him to be happy, to be a good person. Instead they throw him into the pits with the hounds, leave him to their fate. Because they're afraid to loose their oh so precious wealth. That's just - it's not right!"

"No, it's not," he agreed quietly and looked away, afraid that she may see too much in his eyes. It had taken him years to understand that daddy wasn't supposed to beat the shit out of him in order to punish him. And sometimes, he still wasn't sure if he didn't deserve the whipping. Hell, if he wanted to be honest, ever since Lilly had died, he had down right provoked his father to teach him another lesson, like that time when he had announced that his dad was going to donate half a million dollar to the food shelter. But at the bottom line, he knew that even then, what his father was doing to him was wrong. Not that that changed anything.

"I'm the only one who knew him as he was before, even if it wasn't that well, and also knew him when he had changed so much and I guess, somehow I'm a connection for him that the deprogrammer couldn't erase. I'm triggering something in him and whatever it is, he seems to want more of it. So he spends time with me, even if that means that he's the but of many jokes and rumors flying around about us," she continued to explain and after a moment, Logan dared to look back at her.

From time to time he had wondered what she would have done if he'd ever told her about how his father really was - what was his equivalent to house arrest. He always had thought that at least, contrary to others, she would have believed him. She was the only person he knew who had never fawned over his dad. Actually, he had had always the impression that she didn't like his father and boy, she definitely was unique in that opinion and her reaction to his father showing up. No glazed over eyes, no flirting, no sticking out her chest and no nervous giggling. Instead, she always had been cool and polite and rather went to get some fresh air than listen to one of his father's tales. For that alone he had loved her. But what would she have done if he'd told her? Judging from her reaction to Casey's parents' actions he guessed he knew now. She'd have helped in any way she could. But really, what could she have done? Probably, she'd have told her father, but that was the least Logan wanted. It was one of the main reasons why he had always been very careful to not let her eventually catch up, like Lilly and Duncan had after a while. If she had told her father, Keith Mars probably would have believed her and would not have tried to do something about it. The last time someone had tried that, his dad had made sure that this person got transferred. And if Ronnie's dad would have had to leave town, so would have Ronnie. That was the least he wanted. No, it was better that he never told her the truth about his family life.

"Strangely, he seems not to mind them," she said, bringing him out of his own dark thoughts and focus back on the tiny blond girl sitting beside him. She shrugged. "Actually, he rather seems to be amused by them. He's - different when we are alone. It's a bit like with you. As soon as your flocks are around, you usually turn to be that annoying jackass. But when we're alone, you let yourself be the decent human you actually are. Casey's alike that. He's not the arrogant jerk he usually was when we've still socialized with him, nor is he the blue-eyed and naive boy who sold his Porsche to finance a greenhouse full of Christmas Stars. He's something in-between, in search of himself."

"He did _what_?" Logan laughed, disbelieving. "And excuse me, _flocks_?" he added, raising an eyebrow. "I have no flocks," he denied. Besides, he wasn't anything like Casey Gant. That comparison was simply ridiculous. To ridiculous to even deserve a comment on it.

Ronnie laughed. "Oh yeah? Then what would you call the 09ers that always surround you and are almost begging for your attention. And who do whatever you tell them to do?"

"They have just excellent taste and are smart enough to recognize my wisdom," Logan told her in his best high society voice, then grinned. "Plus, most of them are really pathetic."

"Flocks," she nodded, grinning. "Okay, I should see that I get home before Dad really gives out that APB. So Saturday's okay?"

"Sure, same place, same time?" Logan wanted to know.

"Hmm..." she said but seemed to hesitate there for a second. "Hey - what do you say if we meet a bit earlier? We go get my stuff and then go hang out at the beach, listen to the recordings, relax, have fun?" she suggested, almost shyly.

Logan smiled. He liked that idea. "And have dinner again, maybe go see one of those bad Christmas movies that are simply hilarious?"

Almost beaming at him, she nodded. "Yeah, why not. That a plan?"

"Definitely," Logan confirmed, thinking for a moment. "You know, we could take Dad's boat."

"Won't that take too long?" Ronnie asked, contemplating the suggestion though apparently.

"On a Saturday? Right before Sylvester?" Logan retorted, giving her an incredulous look. "We're probably faster by boat than by car."

"You're right," Ronnie conceded, still frowning though. "But how do we get to Kovalovic's house then?"

Logan rolled his eyes. "It's called a rental car, Ronnie. That's probably wiser anyway. The X-Terra is quite remarkably after all."

"My God, he's got it!" she cheered in her peppy voice.

"Cut it!" he warned her with a glare.

Her eyes continued to gleam dangerously but she didn't say anything else. Instead, she went back to the topic at hand. "It's still a bit early for a boat trip. We better bring parkas along, just in case."

"Yeah Mommie. And the life-vests are already on board. Perhaps we could bring scarves and gloves as well, in case we get into a snow storm," he mocked and earned himself a punch into his upper arm. "Ow! Hey!"

"You better see to it that you'll have some provision on the boat. Like coffee. And soda. Some fruits. Chips couldn't hurt either. I'll bring sandwiches and marshmallows," she told him, half threateningly, half businesslike. "Want me to meet you at the marina?"

"Yeah. Slip five. Uh..." He thought for a moment, calculating. "Nine too early?"

"Nope, it's okay. But you definitely have to have coffee on board," she agreed though and reached for the door handle. "Okay Logan, I really must go now. We talk later?"

"Hmm," Logan nodded and watched her jump out, turning to grab her things.

Before she closed the door after her she paused though, looking up at him. "Logan - thanks for telling me the truth. I... I'm glad you did." She offered him a lopsided but also rueful grin. "If I'd had found out on my own - it wouldn't have been pretty."

He nodded slowly. "Yeah, I figured. I needed to tell you. To come clean with you," he answered quietly.

For a moment, he thought he could see a shadow over her face, her eyes going distant. Then it was gone again. "Yeah, perhaps it really is time to get rid of the secrets. Perhaps," she murmured, almost too softly for Logan to still understand her. But then, she straightened and smiled at him. "Anyway, thanks again. It meant a lot."

This time, before he could answer her, she closed the door and hurried over to her own car, got in and pulled away ahead of him, breezing out of the parking lot.

Confused, Logan sat there, unmoving, for a while longer.

She was right, it meant a lot, for him as well. But... What the hell had all that been about?

He wasn't sure. But then, Ronnie probably had some secrets as well. At least, that was what he suspected, ever since he had started to try to find out why Ronnie had been such a mess, that day he went into the girl's bathroom to confront her about Fennel's accusations. The threatening presents she had gotten and he had witnessed, as gruesome as they had been, had never prompted her to loose it like she had lost it that day and he started to doubt that it just had been another present. And a few comments on her part here or there had only strengthened that suspicion.

What had she said at the beach?

_And the last shreds of that girl died that morning when she woke up and had to realize that she really could trust no one and nothing again, not even her own instinct, her own judgment._

What morning? After what had happened exactly?

He didn't know. But maybe, Ronnie was going to tell him now, finally, now that he had admitted to not having a valid alibi for Lilly's murder. He hoped so even if he was pretty sure he wasn't going to like what she had to tell him. He just knew it, alone by the expression in her eyes when she had said that. When she had cried in the bathroom.

Who knew, perhaps she would say something Saturday, when they were far away from Neptune, alone, with no one to overhear them or walk in on them. And if not, fine with him also. Then they'd just have a good time together, two old and close friends making a trip, enjoying the holidays.

Either way, he was definitely looking forward to Saturday.

Especially as he got a whole day with her, whereas both, her best friend and Gant only got half a day at most.

Yeah, he liked that very much.

* * *

TBC!

_(Author's Note: Finally I got that done as well! Of course it took a will on its own and is directing me to things I hadn't planned, at least not that soon. But it was just time for it, I guess. Hope you enjoyed it and stay tuned for the next chapter in which they'll go onto a little boat trip. And yeah, at least one other big secret (well, at least for them it's still a secret) will be relieved. Perhaps even two. We'll see. Thanks for the reviews! As always, they are the salt of a writer's life.)_


	9. 8 The Trip

**Chapter 8: The Trip**

"Uff," was all Logan could mutter before he landed on his back with a drooling and excited pit-bull on top of him, squishing the air out of his lungs.

"You know, a gentleman would help the lady on board."

Trying to escape the rough, wet tongue trying to give him sloppy dog kisses, Logan pushed at Back-Up, trying to sit up. "Okay, okay, buddy, I get it!" he told the dog, laughing though. "And you're a big boy and I'm happy to see you too but come on, let me up now," he continued and with a last push managed to get Back-Up to back off his chest enough for him to stand up again.

"I'm starting to think that the two of you like each other much more than you like me."

Grinning, Logan looked up to finally see this dog's mistress as well, still standing on the pier with her fists pressed into her sides. Ruffling Back-Up's head, he moved over to her. "And you'd be right about that. Sorry darling, but a man and his dog..." he drawled in the most back forest slang he could muster up. "Come on, I'll help you down," he offered, stretching out his arms.

A big red and white bag was handed over to him, far more heavy than he had anticipated. Frowning, he steadied himself and put it beside him. "Jeez, what did you pack? We're not even away for a day."

"Preparation is the mother of precaution," Ronnie lectured and jumped down into the boat, causing it to rock softly.

Logan reached out to secure Ronnie in case she hadn't her footing yet. "A little tip: jumping down into a boat is not a very smart idea," he told her, letting her go again.

"Duh, really? Would never have thought that," Ronnie replied, rolling her eyes. "But you see, this little 'boat' of you looks quite robust. I was pretty sure it could take my little weight jumping down on it."

"Your in that lecture mood of yours, aren't you?" Logan wanted to know and sighed. "Boy, that's going to be one long day."

"Aww, is poor Logie-Baby a bit grumpy this morning?" Ronnie cooed, ruffling his hair.

"Hey!" he hissed and evaded her hand, sending her a glare that should have evaporated her. "And you use that horrible name-thing again and I start calling you Ron," he threatened.

Her eyes widened slightly and she held up her hands. "Okay, okay... jeez, what's the matter with you? woken up on the wrong side of bed?" she asked, giving him a curious look.

"No, just want to hit the road finally - uh," he interrupted himself, looking around. "Hit the sea?"

"Set the sails?" Ronnie complied, raising an eyebrow.

"Or something like that," Logan nodded with a shrug. "So that all or you've got a chest with you as well?" he asked, pointing at her big bag.

"No, that's all," Ronnie told him patiently and shook her head. "And I don't know what you have? It's just a few things for Back-Up, warmer clothes and also a change of clothes just in case, the camera and notebook and food of course. No big deal."

"Women," Logan just muttered, shaking his head. All he had brought along was a second pair of t-shirt and an additional jacket. And the body suit and surfboard of course. And some supplies. "Just hope you didn't let your dad see you leave with it. The size this is he probably would have thought you're running away and had followed you with his gun loaded and ready to shoot me."

Laughing, Ronnie shook her head. "Then it's probably good he didn't see me leave this morning. Though it would have been quite of hard, with him on the way to Columbia."

Pausing, Logan looked more closely at her. "He's what?"

"Bail jumper. Dad's following him to Columbia to get him back. He left very early this morning to catch the next flight out to Bogotá," Ronnie elaborated.

"And when will he be back?" Logan asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Dunno, depends on how fast he can find the guy," she said, shrugging. "But it probably will take at least two, three days."

"So you're alone over Sylvester?" Logan asked, astonished by that. Keith Mars left his precious little girl alone for a few days? Over the holidays? The Mars', who were always this big on holidays?

"Just me and Back-Up," she nodded though.

He glanced at the pit-bull. "That's why you've asked if it's okay to take him along," he realized.

"Yeah, Back-Up's fine for a few hours alone, but the whole day and a big part of the night also? No, that wouldn't have worked," she confirmed, patting her dog's head. "So, you need any help? Want me to lose the lines or something like that?"

Logan nodded to the stern, already having taken care of the lines on backboard and starboard just before she had arrived. "If you can lose the stern line there, that would be good."

"Aye, aye, captain!" Ronnie saluted, told Back-Up to stay and made her way over to the stern while Logan moved to the steering controls, starting the motor.

Once Ronnie gave him the okay that they were free, Logan carefully backed out of the slot to slowly leave the marina harbor. As soon as they were out in the open sea he accelerated, the boat flying over the water at top speed. Enjoying the wind on his face, Logan took a deep breath and then let it go again, relaxing. He loved this, to go at top speed, into the open sea, leaving everything behind.

"I've forgotten how much fun this is," Ronnie echoed his thoughts, leaning against the board next to him, wearing a big grin, her eyes shining with excitement. Behind them, Back-Up barked two times, as if to agree as well.

Grinning, Logan nodded. "Yeah, me too." Upon feeling her eyes on him, he slowed down a bit and put in the autopilot before he settled back against the captain's chair - which was more a bar stool than a chair, really. "I was barely out since Lilly's murder. Once for Dick's birthday party as that one took place on his dad's yacht, but that's hardly the same. And I tried it once last summer but..." he sighed. "It wasn't the same. I was back after barely an hour."

It was strange. For the first time ever he was able to talk about Lilly and her death without having to swallow or having to work around a big gulp in his throat. Still sad about it, that he probably would never lose, but somehow also at ease with it. As if he had finally come to terms with her death, being able to talk about her or the time afterwards without being overwhelmed by pain or blind anger. He wondered if it was because it was Ronnie he was talking to, Lilly's best friend who had loved her as much as he had - or if it was because after all the talking about the murder and what had happened since them, it had run out of his system in a way. He wasn't sure - he was just glad that it was like that now.

"And now?" she asked softly. "You feeling the need to head back already?"

"No," Logan answered and smiled, glancing at her for a long moment, hesitating, unsure if he should say what was on his mind. But then, they were being honest with each other now, weren't they? "Last summer - I hated it not just because of Lilly not being around anymore, Ronnie. It was part of it, sure, but not the whole reason why I couldn't enjoy it. It also was Duncan, who just wasn't really there anymore. And me, because I just - I wasn't ready yet, everything still too raw, too close, too damn much hurting." His eyes captured hers, held them. "And it was you as well. I may have pushed you out of my life myself but that doesn't mean I haven't missed you as well, Ronnie. I - I convinced myself that the Ronnie I've known was dead or had never existed but I still missed that girl terribly as well. You as Veronica weren't the same girl as Ronnie."

Veronica was silent for a while, probably pondering his words. "I'm still not that girl anymore either. I'll never be her again," she finally said and there was that hard edge in her eyes again he slowly started to hate. "So what's different that we're even back to friends now?"

It was a good question but Logan wasn't sure how to answer it. How to explain what was different now. "I know. But - I don't know. We've started talking again and even more importantly, we actually listened to what the other had to stay. And the more time we spend together again, the more I realize that though you've changed, there's still a lot of that old Ronnie in you. Most of the reasons why we've been friends in the first place," he tried to explain it. "Plus, there's that bastard who sends you creepy and threatening messages and the moment I've learned about it I just knew that I couldn't let anything happen to you, that I couldn't lose you as well, no matter how bad things were between us at that time." He smiled ruefully. "When you're so worried about someone and so reluctant to lose that person it's kind of hard to convince yourself that you really hate that person as much as you've thought you did." He shrugged. "So I reevaluated. Risked to come close to you again, being friends even." Growing serious again, he pierced her with his eyes. He wanted this to be clear. "It's probably the only smart thing I've done since this whole disaster started. Perhaps even for longer than that."

Ronnie smiled but her eyes stayed serious - though they've lost the hard edge in them, Logan noted with relief. "Having witnessed the majority of those things you did: Yeah, it definitely was something smart of you to do for a change."

Logan slowly nodded. "So no - being here with you, making this trip: it feels good. Very good. I'm sure I'm going to enjoy this day, simply because I'm spending it with a friend - and her crazy dog," he added, glancing over his shoulder at Back-Up who had laid down onto the deck, his dark brown eyes watching them attentively though.

"Just like old days?" Ronnie asked skeptically.

"No," Logan disagreed, looking back at her. "The old days are over. It's not the same anymore, never will be. I finally accepted that. Lilly's gone, Duncan's not here either, and while we are here, we're different people as well. But we are here, different people, different friends, but friends none the less and personally, I'm just fine with that. We're going to make a new day, new times, don't you think that sounds like a plan?"

Ronnie didn't answer immediately, instead, she looked out to the open see. "You make it sound so easy," she eventually said quietly.

"It's not. But it's doable for us I think," Logan answered, never leaving her out of his eyes.

Finally, she turned back to him. "New days, huh?" Upon his nod, she smiled. "That sounds good." She nodded slowly, her smile intensifying. "Yeah, I'd definitely like that."

Suddenly feeling relieved, though he hadn't noticed so far that he had held his breath, Logan smiled back, joy filling his heart. "So let's make a new day," he declared and jumped up to deactivate the autopilot and bringing the boat to top speed again.

* * *

"Gotcha."

Pushing the sunglasses up, Logan raised his head a bit to glance over to the tiny blond one beside him.

She turned her head to meet his gaze and grinned smugly. "Listen," she told him and switched the sound to loudspeaker, hitting play. Logan listened and broke out into a grin as well as he listened to Kovalovic closing a deal that definitely was not legal - or known to his wife.

"I just knew he was doing something on the side as well," Ronnie commented triumphal and ended the recording.

"So this is how it feels to convict someone... Not bad, Mars, not bad at all," Logan agreed. "I begin to understand why you like doing all this Nancy Drew stuff so much. What will happen now?"

"I'm going to show Mrs Kovalovic our proofs and get my check. After that," she shrugged. "I bet she's going to divorce the little son of a bitch and leaves him with nothing." Her eyes darkened. "And that's just what he deserves, if you ask me."

"May, may, aren't we feeling a little vengeful today," Logan commented dryly.

Her eyes narrowed. "You find okay how that guy two-timed his wife?"

Feeling the danger, he sat up and stretched out his hands. "Of course not. I would never."

Her glare grew in intensity.

Uncomfortable, Logan shrugged. "It's wrong, sure."

The glare hit laser level and he sighed, pulling up his shoulders. "But then we don't really know how their marriage is, don't we? Sometimes there are good reasons for one party to - look for something else, perhaps a way out. For all we know he just tries to get enough money in order to get out of the marriage without losing everything. You said good old Mrs Kovalovic takes care of the finances, right?"

"And that excuses this?"

At her incredulity, he had to smile. Sometimes, Ronnie was just so naive. But he knew better than to mention anything even remotely into that direction to her. He liked his balls just fine as they were. "Not really. I'm just saying we shouldn't judge without knowing all the facts."

"Aha." The laser glares bored into him. "So your dad screwing around on your mom is okay because I don't know, Lynn's not comprehending enough? Doesn't let him have any? Screws other men?"

Stiffening, Logan glared back at her. "Leave my parents out of this, Veronica," he warned her hotly. But really, how could she dare to bring them up? "Or we can also discuss your mom screwing Jake Kane."

For a moment, they both furiously blinked at each other, Logan fully expecting her to jump up and leave in a huff. He sure was ready himself to get up and just storm away. But then Veronica surprised him by taking a deep breath and the glare died in her eyes, leaving her looking at him somewhat regretful. "I'm sorry. You're right. It was out of place to bring up your parents. I really shouldn't have." She made a face. "It's just - sometimes it's hard to not fall back into old habits and so easy to forget that you're not my archenemy anymore."

He stared at her, checking if she hadn't just sprouted a second head.

She frowned. "What?"

Logan shook his head slowly, still looking her over mistrustfully. "Just making sure you're body hasn't been snatched by body snatchers." He looked up. "Pigs aren't flying yet either. Huh." His eyes settled back on her. "It must be true then: You, Veronica Mars, just apologized to me, Logan Echolls. Even more astounding: you admitted you were wrong." He leaned his head to the side. "You sure you're okay? You're not dying or something, aren't you."

"You're a jerk," she muttered and she pushed at him so he fell back lightly - but he also saw the hint of a grin on her face.

"And you're a bitch," he gave back nonchalantly and got up, stretching. They've arrived in Long Beach perhaps three hours ago. An hour and half to tow in the boat, get a car, drive out to Kovalovic's place, remove Ronnie's equipment and finally drive back to the beach. He had enjoyed lying here on the beach, next to Ronnie and listen to the typical beach sounds or tolling around with Back-Up while Ronnie listened through the recordings. The sun was warm, even if it was still too cold to strip much. "I'm hitting the water. You want to come as well?" he asked. He doubted it, but then, with this Ronnie, you never knew.

Sure enough though, she raised an eyebrow and gave him that look that insinuated that he had just asked something really dumb.

"Come on, some exercise will do us good," he added, nudging her with a foot.

"Thank you, but I think I'll pass on this perfect opportunity to get myself pneumonia," she declined once again. "I'll leave that honor all to you."

"Aww, little Ronniekins afraid of a little cold water?" he goaded.

"Not everyone happens to wear a thermo regulated bodysuit as a second skin," she pointed out. "Though I'm pretty sure you're going to get yourself a hypothermia even with that on."

Due to her words he pulled off his sweater and stepped out of his jeans to reveal said thermo regulated bodysuit. "I'll let you know that this is not the first time I hit the water in the winter. A true dedicated surfer doesn't let himself be stopped by a little cold water."

"Just don't expect me to cuddle all up to you to share my body warmth with you," she retorted.

"No?" He gave her his biggest puppy dog eyes. "You want to tell me that you'd just let me freeze to death, me, you oldest friend in the whole world?"

She laid back down, turning back to her records. "Maybe I'll be so generous to drop you off at the emergency room but that's all you can expect from me."

"How Samaritan of you," he replied dryly and couldn't resist to pull at her short ponytail as he bent down to lift his board. "Don't complain that you missed out on all the fun afterwards."

Thus said he was quick to rush towards the water, just to be on the safe side.

* * *

"Told you so."

"Yeah, I've got it the last three times you reminded me so kindly, know-it-all," Logan grumbled, throwing the perky tiny blond one a dark look.

His grumpiness seemed to perk her up even more. But hell, it was really getting boring, her reminding him every time he sneezed that she's been right to warn him that the water was yet too cold, even with his bodysuit. He really had surfed in the cold time of the year before. But damn, that water had been cold. Of course, he also had stayed longer in it than usual. If he'd been alone, he would have just rode a few waves and would have been out of the water again after ten, twenty minutes. His pride hadn't allowed him that this time, just to prove Ronnie right - for all the good that that had brought him. If he really got a cold he was so going to blame her for it. Apropos...

He sneezed again.

Mercifully, she restrained herself to make another comment and just studied the movie posters. "Hmm, so what should it be: meaningless Christmas action, overly sweet romance, under the line comedy or another version of Saw?"

"Definitely no to the romance and horror movie. Though I can't say I feel much like a comedy either and the action movie I've already seen and believe me, you don't want to waste your money on that one." He took a closer look to the program - and started to grin. Oh yeah. "Hey, how about this one? They're doing a special night of Die Hard in the old theater on the promenade. All three movies, starting at eight."

Her eyes lit up but then she scrunched up her nose. "Yeah, that would be great but it will be way to dark for the way home until it's over."

True. But then he didn't really saw a problem with that either. Actually, it suited the plans he had been scheming ever since he had heard that Ronnie was alone over Sylvester just fine. "So what? We'll just stay the night."

Her head swiveled around. "Stay the night?"

He nodded. "Yeah, why not? We're not expected at home and you've got Back-Up with you. Actually, why don't we stay here for Sylvester also? We could make us some fun days and head back on the first or second."

He was pleased to see that she was at least considering it instead of refusing the idea right out.

"And where would we stay? I can't exactly afford a hotel room that would meet your standards," she finally asked, slowly.

Luckily, he had already considered this. "We can stay on the boat. True, the cabin's not very big, but I think it should do for a few nights. And if not I'll be happy to rent us a room somewhere."

One of her eyebrows rose. "Just one?"

Grinning, he stepped close, towering, and looked down at her with a leer. "Ronnie, I had a purely platonic room sharing in mind, but if you want a less platonic way, fine with me." He leaned down to muzzle her hair just a bit. "You know you just have to ask and I'll gladly show you the wonders of sex."

"You wish," she snorted and pushed him away but he was smug to see that there was the faintest blush on her cheek. God, he had missed teasing her like that.

"Besides, I doubt you can show me anything that the various sport teams at school hasn't been able to show me yet," she added, darkly, smoothing down her perfect smooth jacket.

Laughing, Logan gently pulled her ponytail, making sure to let his hand linger a bit longer than necessary on her neck, watching the blush deepen. "It's quality that counts, not quantity." He moved to stir her out, slinging an arm over her shoulder. "And please - as if anyone in his right mind can actually believe those rumors. You may have become this bitch version, but it's still obvious enough that you're the same old virgin you used to be."

She failed to give a comeback, but he only noticed this when they've been walking for perhaps five minutes without her saying anything. Curious, he glanced down at her, only to see that her gaze was fixed on the pavement. He frowned. "Ronnie?"

She straightened and walked forward, making Logan's arm around her drop. "Before we decide anything let's see if there are tickets left for the movie night at all. If not, problem solved."

Logan decided to play along. "And if there are tickets, we stay."

Ronnie gave a nod. "Yeah. We'll try the cabin on your boat. Tomorrow, we can see again."

"Great. I hope you're prepaired to lose against me. No one beats me with the Die Hard movies," he challenged her, referring to an old bet they had going on about remembering the most movie quotes.

When she looked back at him, her eyes sparkled. "I wouldn't be so sure of that. I had a lot time to watch movies this past year, Echolls. And I've seen a lot of Die Hard."

"Loser buys the tickets," Logan offered, meeting her smirk with his own.

"And winner gets to decide the next movie marathon," she accepted, holding out her hand.

"Deal," Logan said and shook the hand, sure that he was going to win and already thinking about the next marathon.

Either some horror movies to properly mock or perhaps, they could have a rematch of the Monty Python Movies. It didn't really matter. They'd have a blast either way, it always had been like that on their movie nights and he saw no reason why that should have changed any.

* * *

Much, much later, Logan found himself in a somewhat paradox situation. The movie night had been, as expected, fantastic and he had enjoyed himself immensely, probably the best since everything had fallen apart. He hadn't laughed so hard and freely in a long time either and God, it had felt good to feel - normal again after such a long time. Happy. Especially after winning their bet, though it had been a way closer call than he had anticipated. She really had watched a lot of Die Hard during their enstrangement.

Once back on the boat, there had been only a brief discussion about who got the cot (Veronica) and who had to take the floor (Logan) as Ronnie had naturally blown his leery suggestion to share it away right on the spot. Not that he minded that much. In fact, he himself had told her to take the cot and only at her protest had he made the other suggestion, knowing full well that she wasn't going to go along with that one. It sure wasn't his first night on the floor of the cabin, though at the other times he usually had been drunk beyond any point of caring or had had sex, mostly with Lilly.

Nor was it that unusual for him and Ronnie to share a room, so to speak. In the first years of their friendship they had often slept over at the other's place. True, they seldom had stayed together in such close a space, but still - it was nothing new and her sleeping peacefully so near him relaxed him on a level he hadn't been able to relax like in a long time, especially with Back-Up stretched out between the cot and Logan's mat, occasionally snoring or rumbling deep in his throat. Everything around him relaxed Logan, made him peaceful.

Yet, he just didn't seem able to fall asleep. It wasn't that he wasn't tired. He was. It wasn't that he wasn't comfortable. He was. It wasn't that his roommates were disturbing him. Not at all.

So why did he lie here on his back, wide awake and just not able to follow his friends into sleep?

Sighing, he gave it up for the moment and silently got up and went back on deck - immediately shivering as the cold winter night hit him. Snatching himself his sweeter, he went over to the bench to lie down there, gazing up to the stars, thinking.

It was true, everything should feel normal as nothing was something he and Ronnie hadn't done yet. And mostly it did. But - there was this feeling of a significant change beneath it all. Not all the arch-enemy for a year stuff, that it wasn't - but he couldn't figure out what else it was. Somehow, Veronica's nearness this day but especially this night now calmed and relaxed him and he enjoyed it so much - but at the same time it put him also on edge, as paradox as it seemed, and it drove him crazy that he couldn't figure out why that was like this.

Okay, so Veronica wasn't exactly the same anymore - nor was he for that matter and nor were they all so different after all, as he had noticed lately. Somehow, to each other, they were a lot more like they used to be than at any other time. So he doubted that it was that that left him so on edge.

Of course it could have something to do with the tiny little fact that he was pretty sure that he was falling hard and fast for the tiny blond one.

Groaning, Logan abandoned the star watching to sit up and roam a hand through his hair. It had taken him a while to catch up but when he had felt a short hot wave of jealousy flame up at catching another of the theater visitors leering at Ronnie and approaching her in order to flirt with her during one of the brakes between movies and he had automatically moved into his way and dropped an arm around her in a clear message he had no way to deny the attraction anymore. Oh, he had tried. For the better part of the first half of the next movie he had tried to convince himself that the only reason why he had acted like he had had been because he just had wanted to ward off any interruptions of their night out as friends again. Or that he knew that Ronnie wouldn't have been interested in the guy anyway and therefore had wanted to save her the trouble to get rid of him herself.

But deep down he had known that that was all bullshit and now, having been so aware of her that he hadn't been able to fall asleep, he was ready to face the fact that he was attracted to one Veronica Mars and that the friendship he shared with her was changing into something more, at least for him. Very much so even.

In a way, it didn't even surprise him that much. He always had felt attracted to her. Hell, his first thought after seeing her for the first time had been that she was hot. Sweet and hot. Sure, the attraction had dimmed down with time, her becoming too soft and nice for his taste and him rather looking for some fire and danger in his girls. But Ronnie wasn't soft or particularly nice anymore and while she wasn't as scandalous as Lilly had been, she sure wasn't boring or passive anymore even. Quite the contrary. Now, she was hot and sexy and dangerous and funny and passionate and...

Logan made a face and sighed. God, he was screwed.

He had always known that without the fury and hate he'd have been all over this Veronica Mars 2.0. Now that their war was over and no hateful feelings stood in the way anymore it was no wonder that he was falling for her.

Unfortunately, she was still Duncan's ex though. No matter if she actually was even his half sister as well, Duncan would never accept Logan dating his precious Veronica, not really. His and Duncan's friendship may not have been as it once was but he still didn't want anything or anyone to break it up altogether. And of course, she was also Lilly's best friend and maybe half sister and that made the situation even more complicated and surreal. But most of all, he very much doubted that Veronica was in any way interested in him like that. They sure had established in the last few days that the idea of the two of them together was ridiculous.

And part of him, a big part, didn't mind any of those obstacles. On the bottom line, Ronnie _was_ one of his best friends. And with only now realizing just how much he had missed just that friendship since the rift between them he was more than reluctant to risk that rekindled friendship already again.

But there also remained that other part of him, that kept nudging and pushing him, trying to tell him that he was probably never to find another girl that would fit him so perfectly.

And fit they did, even though most people who knew them would strongly contradict this. But somehow, his snarky and sometimes dark being and her tough but also vulnerable and biting personality complemented each other. His fire and her passion matched, he knew that deep in his bones and therefore knew that should they ever come together... it would be Earth shattering. He just knew it. So consequently, a certain body part of his had started to make his own decisions, knowing exactly what it wanted.

Something that was hard to ignore and even harder to forget about.

He just didn't know. Was there even a possibility of them being together? Ronnie reacted to him, so he at least had hope, but then, she was still a virgin and virgins tended to get nervous when any boy got too close. Still... he thought there was a chance after all. But was this chance worth their friendship? Was anything worth this precious friendship?

That was the question and he wasn't any closer to find an answer to it than when he had come up.

* * *

Eventually, Logan had went down and had even managed to fall asleep in the end. They had slept in but unfortunately, Ronnie and Back-Up still had gotten up way too early in Logan's opinion, waking him up as well in the process. To be fair, Ronnie had prepared them a small breakfast with the provisions they still had left over from the day before and it had been nice to sit down with her for it, feeding Back-Up this or that when she wasn't looking.

"So - what are we going to do today if we don't want to head home?" Ronnie asked, sitting back, petting Back-Up's head.

Logan had an idea, but he wanted first to see if she had anything particular she wanted to do. "Anything in mind?"

She shrugged. "We need more provisions if we want to stay longer. And I'll need some other clothes as well as I haven't brought more with me than one change. Uh, and depending on what we want to do for the big night tonight I definitely need a little time to do some shopping. But otherwise than that - I dunno. You know Long Beach better than me."

Thinking it over, he nodded. "Apropos tonight: There are various parties we could go to, if you want to."

Ronnie's nose scrunched up a tiny bit. "I don't really need to, but if you want to..."

He shook his head. "Nah. I'd like something smaller as well." His eyes fell on her pit-bull. "Something where we can take the beast here with us."

Her eyes lit up just a bit. "So what are you suggesting? You do have an idea, don't you?"

"Well, first we go buy the things we need. Then I thought we could perhaps take the boat and drive out, make a trip along the coast. And when evening comes, I know a nice place for dinner a bit down South. There are also some promising fireworks planned for tonight so we could then drive out again in order to catch the most of them," he laid out his ideas. "Or we can go on land and perhaps make a bonfire on the beach." He hesitated just a moment, before continuing. "And you know, it's still early enough to call some friends and invite them along, if you want to."

Her eyes met his. "Do you?"

Hell no. He was just fine with the three of them. "Not necessarily but I thought that perhaps you and Fennel had had some lazy plans? Or that blue haired girl?"

Ronnie smiled, but shook her head. "Mac, but she's away with her family. Same with Wallace, he went to visit his grandparents. Meg and Casey wanted to go to Madison's party. And while I never spoke with Eli of his plans I assume he'll have something planned either with his family or the gang." Her smile deepened. "Not that I think the two of you together such a good idea. Besides, what happened to our little plan to keep this secret?"

"Just thought you might want some other company," Logan shrugged.

"You're enough to handle," she said with a dramatic sigh, but then turned serious. "We could invite Duncan though, if you want to."

Duncan? And ruin all the fun? He thought not. "He's going to Madison's party as well. I'd have gone as well, if this here hadn't come up," he said, feeling the tiniest flutter of his heart at the prospect of having her all to himself. He hesitated only for a moment before he went with his instinct. "This is better."

To his immense pleasure, her face lit up and she gave a tiny nod. "I like that plan. Very. Especially as now I don't have to go buy myself a fancy outfit. But I need a shower now. Do I have to use one of the beach showers or..."

"You can use the one at the marina," he said with a nod towards the club house. "I've got the pass downstairs."

She rolled her eyes. "I knew it. Heaven forbid that you high and mighty mingle yourself with the foot folk."

He raised an eyebrow. "If you've got a complaint against a hot shower in a nice, clean environment you can always go mingle yourself with that foot folk."

Veronica glared, but she was wise enough to not make another remark about that one. "What about towels? Do you have to bring them with you or are they provided?"

Logan smirked. "Please. Of course you don't have to bring you're own towel."

"And can I go in on my own or do I have to be escorted by you?" she asked, obviously swallowing down another comment.

Slowly, he looked her up and down. "I better come with you," he finally judged and stood up, stretching. Truth was, she shouldn't have any problem getting in, not with the pass, but he needed to shower too anyway. Besides, this way he could rile her up a bit more.

He just couldn't help it - he loved the sight of her all riled up, her eyes blazing and her mouth sporting that small superstitious quirk.

* * *

"It's about time."

Shooting her a not really too sincere apologetic smile, Logan pushed himself all the way up into the boat and released the straps of the tanks on his back with relief. He didn't notice the weight much in the water, but when coming out of it, worn out by the dive and the additional weight of being wet, he was always glad to finally get rid of it. Well aware of the green eyes keeping their glare on him, he drew in his legs and closed the little gate giving him a better access to the water.

"I was this close to call the Coast Guard. I'm sure your parents would have been happy to hear about that."

Strapping off the diver glasses, the mask and the gloves, Logan finally turned his full attention to the tiny blond one, her anger coming off in waves from her - but he thought he saw something else there, the real reason for her anger beneath it all and already, he broke out into a wide, lopsided, knowing grin. "Aww, was little Ronnie-kin worried about old me?" The glare gained more piercing intensity, causing him only to widen his grin. Getting up he stepped over to her, giving her chin a gentle shove. "No need to though. Everything was just great. The view down there was amazing. You should have come along after all."

Ronnie ditched his fist. "Still don't have any diver's license. But even without one I know that it's marginally stupid to dive alone."

"Which you've already reminded me of several times," he nodded, rolling his eyes. "And I've told you..."

"I don't care!" she interrupted him and Logan finally could see, just how aggravated Ronnie really was. "Okay, I knew where you went in, when and what your plans were, but if something had happened down there I still wouldn't have known it or been able to help you because I have no idea how to dive or how to help a diver in need."

"I had the radio with me," Logan pointed out, reassuringly. "And it's not like I went really deep or anything like that. I more or less just snorkeled. Just a bit more under the surface."

But apparently, Veronica was set to not see any reason. "Which doesn't mean that nothing could have happened! You could have run across a shark or gotten into a dangerous stream or the air tank could have malfunctioned!"

Suppressing a laugh that threatened to spill out, Logan stepped closer and grabbed her arms, forcing her to look up at him. "First of all, it's not shark season and even if it was it would be unlikely for one of the real dangerous types to find its way into these shallow waters. Second, it is as unlikely for a dangerous stream to suddenly form here. I've been here before, several times and I know these waters pretty well by now. And last but not least, like I've told you, I wasn't deep enough to not be able to just surface if really something had happened with the air tank or the mask." Seeing that his reassurance only calmed her somewhat, he smiled, sincerely this time. "But I'm sorry I worried you."

She held her eyes downcast, being uncharacteristically silent for too long a moment, slowly worrying Logan in return. Finally, she turned her head away, still avoiding his eyes. "I'm sorry too that I'm fussing this much - it's just..." She bit her lip.

Truly intrigued now, Logan nudged her gently. "It's just what?"

She sighed and shook her head but at least she looked back at him. "I just don't want to lose someone else who means a lot to me. And you're definitely back in that category. So I don't like you taking such stupid risks."

Dumbfounded, Logan could only stare at her for a moment. "Veronica..."

"I know, I know. It's stupid. I admit that you probably really were as careful as you managed to be, but you still were alone down there and I think there's a good reason why it's always preached to never dive alone." She gave him a poignant look but then she continued. "And I also know that you've got that wild, adventurous side which sometimes borders not only to plain stupidity but also gets you into real trouble. Sometimes even dangerous trouble. It's part of you. I _know_ that. But..."

"But what?" he urged her once again, wanting to hear the rest before he commented any of it.

Her eyes fell down once again. "But I can't help but think that that was one of the main reasons why you and Lilly got along so well and were able to stay together so long after all, despite the many break-ups. You're sometimes so alike, too alike I think which also explains just those many break-ups." Her cheeks reddened. "And I don't say that this side of you is wrong or so bad - but I fear it's just that same side of Lilly that might have gotten her killed in the end and when you go and take such stupid, unnecessary risks I can't help but fear that in the end, it will kill you too, one way or another." Finally, she dared to look back at him, her cheeks even redder, but still with resolve in her eyes. "You jumped over your shadow because you were worried about me because of these 'gifts' left for me. Fine. But it goes both ways, Logan. I care too. I worry too. And I don't want to lose you like I lost Lilly either."

God... if he had had any idea how much his little dive would rile her up he'd have forgone it - and how the hell had they gotten from his dive to Lilly's murder? He wasn't sure exactly and wrote it off to the unimaginable talent of women altogether to make unreasonable mind jumps. But it was still nothing he could just let go - for that it was too important. So he did the first thing that came to his mind - he took her into his arm, holding her close, kissing the top of her head before he could stop himself. Oh, what the hell... Then he leaned back enough for him to raise her head up with a finger under her chin.

"I'm not going to change, Veronica," he told her quietly.

"I didn't ask you to," she answered with a sigh.

Perhaps not. Perhaps yes, even if unintended. "And I admit that some of the things that I've done since Lilly's death have been on the gray side of things."

She only raised an eyebrow.

"But I swear to you, I'm not suicidal. None of the risks I've taken or the stunts I pulled had held any real danger to me or my life," he continued seriously. "Nor do I have any plans to do so in the future."

"I didn't say that..."

"No," he interrupted her, searching her eyes. "But you implied it."

She huffed. "I did nothing alike. I was just worried."

Finally, he allowed himself to smile again. "Okay. I'm glad about that." At her look he hurried to elaborate. "Not that you've been worried. Just that you worry at all."

Her eyes softened but she was wise enough to simply give a shrug in return.

"I better see to it that I get out of these wet clothes now." Logan stirred them away from the bit too serious talk they've been having and went over to the cabin. "Before I catch a cold," he added with a smirk.

"Don't get everything wet."

He rolled his eyes. "Yes, Mom."

Once down in the cabin he proceeded to strip out of the diver suite - or better said tried to. As it turned out, somehow, the zipper had gotten stuck halfway down his back and no matter what he tried and how much he twisted his body, he couldn't get the zipper to move one inch.

"Need help?"

Turning his head, he saw Ronnie standing in the doorway, looking amused. His curses must have brought her down. Quickly, he shook his head. "Nah. Thanks though."

She shrugged but she also didn't leave. Inwardly cursing, Logan once again tried to get the damn zipper down, praying that it would finally work. He couldn't let Ronnie see his back. He just couldn't.

But the stupid zipper stayed where he was.

With a sigh, Ronnie came over to him. "Stay still."

"No, really, I've got it," he protested and tried to twist away, but she already had a firm grip on the zipper and simply pushed him around again.

"Don't be such an idiot, you won't get that zipper to move on your own. It's pretty stuck," she added in a murmur and he could feel her working at it.

He froze, knowing that him further refusing her help was probably as problematic and telling as him allowing her to help him. Perhaps the suit wouldn't clap open enough to reveal anything to her. And there wasn't that much light in the cabin.

Her fingers brushed against his skin and he involuntarily shivered. Damn it! Breathing in deeply, he held the air, sucking in his stomach in the hope that that would give her a bit more space to work on the zipper without too much contact with the marred skin on his back and indeed, he could feel her pulling with more force on the zipper and suddenly, he felt it slide further down at last. Immediately twisting around, he backed away from Veronica, straining to give her a smile.

"Thanks. I've got it from here."

But she didn't leave. No, she stayed where she was, a frown between her eyes and a puzzled look on her face.

Fuck.

Then she slowly followed him, trapping him with only the cot in his back, her eyes never leaving his face. "Logan, turn around," she told him - ordered him.

He didn't, founding himself frozen on the spot, his mind blank. She seemed to notice this because she grabbed his arm to twist him around on her own. That at least broke through his stupor. "Leave it," he too ordered, his voice rough, trying to free himself.

But her grip was surprisingly strong and she had him already turned with his back facing her and before he could try to slip away again, she pulled apart the flaps of the body suit.

At her gasp he hung his head and closed his eyes, resigned.

Fuck, fuck, _fuck_.

He felt her fingers slide along a few of the more recent scars, gentle, and once again he shivered. But he didn't jerk away either, somehow her touch being strangely comforting, despite all the fucked-up circumstances. It was a long time since anyone had touched his back so tenderly. Besides, it was too late now anyway. She knew now. He wasn't sure what would happen now, but she definitely knew now, his last, his biggest secret.

"It's your dad, isn't it?" she said quietly, more a statement than a question.

He hesitated only slightly before giving a short nod.

"I always knew something was off between you two. But I never imagined..." Her soft voice trailed off and he felt her pull away the suit further to get an even better look at his back, her fingers still gently touching his scars. "These are pretty old ones... Oh Logan - did that bastard do this to you all your life?"

The sorrow in her voice was both humiliating and soothing. Finally shying away from her touch he turned around, not meeting her eyes though. He wasn't yet ready to face her pity. "I was five the first time he really hit me hard. Before that it were just some shoves or hard shaking. And isolation." Why the hell was he telling her all this? She didn't need to know this well. But what else could he tell her? That it was okay? Yeah right. But he did shrug. "Look, just let it go, okay? I'm... I can handle it."

To his surprise she didn't protest. She was just silent. When it lasted too long, he finally looked up at her. To his utter relief, there was no pity in her eyes. But there was rage in her eyes, rage he rarely had seen in her before. Only then did he notice her balled hands.

"The minute I hit eighteen I'm outta there and he won't be able to hurt me ever again." He somehow felt the need to calm and reassure her, so he even mustered up a faint smile. "And his injury will stop him to do much for at least two more months, not if he doesn't want to hurt himself in the process as well and believe me, he isn't a masochist as well."

Unfortunately, this seemed to have been the wrong thing to say as the anger flared up even more in her eyes. "Oh great. That makes it okay then, I guess," she snorted sarcastically.

Sighing, he slowly shook his head. "No," he answered simply. "But seriously, Veronica - let it go."

For a moment, she just studied him. "I take it from your words that you did try to get it to stop at one time, didn't you?" she finally said, not leaving him out of her eyes.

"Yeah," he confirmed with hesitation.

"And I guess nobody wanted to belief that the great Aaron Echolls is capable of such an ugly thing," Ronnie stated with obvious disgust. "Or he paid them off if they did believe you."

Not seeing any sense in lying, he just nodded, avoiding her eyes.

"And then he hurt you even more," she continued resigned and he could see her fists tighten. If she continued like that she would draw blood soon. "What about Lynn? Surely she must know what that asshole is doing to you? And Trina? Does she know? Did he abuse her as well?"

Logan kept his eyes lowered. Somehow, this was always the hardest part, the part that ashamed him the most to admit. And he didn't want to talk about it anymore - but he knew also that Ronnie wouldn't give it a rest before she didn't have all the answers she wanted and in that light he rather wanted to get this over with as fast as possible. "He never hit Trina. To her, he's an hero and I'm just her stupid little brother making up lies to get noticed." He couldn't help the bitterness. Trina and he may not be very close and there was a lot of disgust and indifference between them but she was his big sister after all, wasn't she? "And Mom... Don't judge her, Ronnie. She has no more choice in this than I have. He may not hit her too but there are other ways to keep people at bay and tyrannize them and Dad knows them all."

She didn't like that. "This isn't right!"

Smiling, he looked back at her. "Ronnie, when is something like that ever right? Still doesn't mean that it can be helped. _You_ should know that better than anyone else."

Breathing deeply, she started to pace in front of him. "Lilly had to know," she eventually said, ignoring his hint at her mother's alcoholism.

Blinking at the sudden jump, he nodded reluctantly.

"Duncan?"

Again he nodded, knowing already what would come next.

"But you never told me. Dammit, Logan, we were friends, and close friends at that. Especially as you know how it was at home with my mom... You always understood, always were ready to listen to me if I needed to talk to someone about it, but you... You should have told me!" She sounded hurt. Not that that was much of a surprise to him.

"Ronnie... I couldn't tell you," he told her softly. "You would have told your Dad..."

She nodded vehemently. "Damn right I would have! Your father needs to be stopped and punished!"

"Please... He could have done nothing. You've seen what happened when he accused Jake. It would have been the same thing if he'd gone against Dad, perhaps even worse with all the publicity behind Dad. I know it, I've seen it happen before, with some of the nannies, with my teacher in second grade, even with a social worker one time." He took a deep breath. "I couldn't risk the same thing happening to your dad. He would have most likely lost his job and been forced out of Neptune. _You_'d have had to leave. And I didn't want that, just _because_ our friendship meant so much to me."

"I think you're underestimating Dad," she just responded, glaring at him.

Alarmed, Logan shot her a warning look. "And you're underestimating my dad. Ronnie, you can't tell your dad! You've got to promise me that you won't tell him."

She was silent.

Taking a step closer to her, he grabbed her shoulders. "I mean it, Veronica. You mustn't tell him or anyone else. You hear me?"

"But..."

"No buts. It's my decision and believe it or not, this is not about protecting him - it's about protecting me and Mom and anyone else who is important to me. I know him. He'll take revenge, one way or another and your dad may not be sheriff anymore but that doesn't mean he and his life still can't be destroyed," he insisted, tightening his grip on her. "I've learned to live with all this shit and I'm fine. So just let it go."

He felt her tremble in his hands but what happened next took him by surprise. Suddenly, she just reached up and slang her arms around him, pressing him close against her small body. Once he got over his shock, he accepted it and hugged her back.

"It's not okay. And you shouldn't be fine with it. But because you almost beg this I'll let this rest for the moment and respect your wish," she whispered into his ear. "But only if you promise me that if you have reason to believe that it will happen again, you avoid going home. You'll stay with Duncan or Dick or with me, or if that's useless you have me coming over to stay, I don't care, but you try to avoid your Dad and his abuse as much as you can. And if he still gets to you and hurts you again, I want you to come to me. You promise this and I'll tell no one for now. Do I have your promise?"

His arms tightened around her, his heart beating faster. This meant all so much to him and to hear her determination to be there for him made him fall even harder for the tiny blond one.

"Promise, Logan," she urged him, but her hold on him tightened as well. "Promise."

Gently, he loosened the embrace and leaned back to look down into her eyes. "Ronnie..."

Her arms fell down, her hands still on his arms though and her fingers dug into his flesh. "Please - for the sake of my mind's peace: Promise. Promise so I know that you have at least a bit of protection against him."

He sighed. He really wanted to promise her, but he couldn't. He wouldn't make her a promise he knew he most likely had no chance to keep. "And you need to understand that I can't drag you into this mess, Veronica," he countered gently. "Dad can't get the impression that you know and you staying over too much would give you away. And avoiding him - I've tried it, Ronnie, and believe me, the longer I avoid him, the more painful is the punishment."

"But..."

"Just trust me on this one, okay?" he pleaded, raising a hand to stroke her cheek. "I know how to handle this."

She didn't protest again this time. In fact, she just stood there and looked miserable. It touched his heart and he smiled, a real smile. He could give her at least something he guessed. "But hey, it doesn't happen that often anymore, not since I'm older and got the car and can get out of there more. Or perhaps it was since he realized that I'm having sex that he holds back more as it's kind of hard to explain the scars. And if you really want to I can promise you that I'll let you know should it happen again." He turned serious. He wasn't keen on her seeing him like he was after one of Daddy's lessons, but truth was also that ever since losing Lilly and Duncan drawing back this much he had missed having a safe haven he could go to in order to lick his wounds so to speak. And he trusted her, knew that she'd have his back. "To be honest, I wouldn't mind having a place and someone I could go to if I have to."

She set her jaw. "Logan, I promise you you'll hurt even more if I find out that you _haven't_ come to me." Her eyes softened. "Seriously, Logan: never hesitate to come to me."

"Your dad..."

"I'll handle dad," she waved his concern away. "Don't think about that or anything else. If you need to, you just come, okay?"

Slowly, he nodded, once again caressing her cheeks. "Okay." Only hesitating for a moment, he bent down to kiss her cheek. "Thanks, Veronica - this means a lot to me, you know?"

"This is nothing you have to thank me for. It's the least I can do, as little as it is. You should have told me a long time ago," she replied though, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

Not wanting to have this discussion again, he tried to lighten the heavy air around them. "You're cute when you're pouting." And that was the absolute truth.

She eyed him, indignantly, but he had the impression that the corners of her mouth twitched suspiciously. Then she floored him once again though. "I want you to declare me as your girlfriend."

"Wh... Wh... What?!" He must have misheard her. He just had to. She couldn't just have said...

"I want you to claim me as your girlfriend."

She had! But... Did this mean what he hoped it would or what else did she want to achieve with that. "I... I'm sorry, I can't follow you there."

Veronica shook her head, once, impatient. "You said he beats on you less when you have a girlfriend. And you said that me being over at yours too often would be suspicious, but not if everyone thinks we're together. He can't say much about his almost grown up son having his girlfriend over - or staying with her."

Oh...

Logan tried hard to not let his disappointment show too much. "So you suggest we just pretend to be together? What about that other plan of yours? The one where you don't want anyone to know we're even friends again, let alone a couple?"

"As you pointed out several times already, it's not really working out that much. So perhaps this is just what it needs - something to shock them a bit. Most of your friends don't like me. They're going to say I'm just trying to take Lilly's place or something like that," she pointed out thoughtfully though and gave a decisive nod. "And maybe some of them confront me or you, badmouthing me, and letting slip something accidently. You'd be surprised what people all let slip when they're angry." She smiled wickedly at that and he had a hard time to hold himself back from... whatever he might have done. "Not that that is really the point here. We're stuck a bit at the Lilly front I know that, but if this helps to keep you safe from your father then I don't see any reason not to do this."

He could have kissed her right then and there - but that in itself was the problem, wasn't it? Slowly, he shook his head. "Not that I don't appreciate the offer - but I don't think I can do this."

Stopped cold like that in her plan scheming, she narrowed her eyes. "Why not? You don't have anything serious going on at the moment, do you?"

"No, but..."

"Are you worried because of Duncan? If it's that I'm sure we can simply tell him the truth. It wouldn't be like you'd have to tell him anything he doesn't already know after all."

"No, it's not Duncan, though it would make everything more complicated, but..."

The expression in her eyes turned dangerous. "Or is it that you don't want to be seen with filth like me?"

Annoyed, he rolled his eyes. "Oh come on, now make a point! Of course that's not it either, but..."

"Then what is it? And please don't tell me that you don't want to lie like that because I know you. Fooling people like that would just be up your avenue."

"Ronnie!" he finally interrupted her exasperated. "Can't you see that I just don't want to risk our friendship?"

Now it was her turn to gaze at him, bewildered. "Huh? What's got our friendship to do with this?"

He sighed, avoiding her eyes. Shit. That had been too much information, hadn't it been? He had come to the conclusion that he didn't want to risk their friendship, not yet at least, not as long as he hadn't a better idea about where Veronica stood in this matter but he just knew he wouldn't be able to keep with that decision if they were pretending to actually be a couple.

"Logan?"

Reluctantly, he looked back at her. Perhaps he could make her see after all, without letting her on on his deeper feelings towards her. "Look - just think about it for a moment, Ronnie: You know me. You've seen me with Lilly and other girls. I'm - affectionate and demonstrative while being with a girl. I touch, I hold hands, I kiss, I make out and everyone who knows me has witnessed this on more than one occasion." He let those words sink in for a moment. "So we'd have to do all this as well if we really are going to do this or no one will believe it anyway, especially not my parents. And from what I've seen from your relationship with Duncan and Troy you like to do at least a few of those things with your boyfriend too." Again he made a pause to let her think over it. "Are you really ready for us to do all these things? Touching, meeting regularly in public, making out - kissing?"

"I guess there are worse things than that," she murmured after a long moment, but he caught the hesitation in her voice.

He wasn't sure what to make out of that. She still seemed willing to do it anyway, but was it just because she wanted to protect him or perhaps there was a little hope that she actually might want all this as bad as he did?

"I still don't see what that's got to do with our friendship though."

And was she really this naive or did she just as badly want to hear him admit some of his feelings towards her like he did? He just didn't know anymore and frankly said, he was too tired to play any games or muster up the energy to pretend anymore.

So he simply kissed her.

His kiss had taken her by complete surprise, he could tell that much. But she hadn't pushed him away yet so he just deepened the kiss, letting some of his frustration and exasperation slip into it. She still seemed frozen in his arms and with a sinking feeling, he was just about to break off the kiss when she finally started to respond, shyly at first and very hesitatingly, but when he gentled the kiss to meet her, Veronica suddenly won on confidence and she started to really kiss him back, with more and more force and passion behind it. Logan followed, feeling the fire flare up between them and race through his body. He pulled her towards him, flush against his body, his hand burying itself in the incredible silkiness of her hair, his other hand slipping under her t-shirt on its own, eager to feel the soft texture of her skin. She still was kissing him back with fervor, still not pushing him back and so he dared to deepen their kiss even more, tasting her, drawing her even closer. He knew she had to feel his excitement, there was no way she couldn't feel the growing hardness pressing hotly against her lower belly but she still didn't try to get away from him. Hell, he was pretty sure she was actually grinding herself deliberately against his erection. The hand under her t-shirt somehow had found its way up towards her breasts and when he brushed softly over her hard (oh Jesus) nipples, he felt her shudder. With an almost tortured groan, he ripped his mouth away from hers and let his head sink down onto her shoulder, keeping her as close to him as humanly possible though.

One more second of this and he knew he'd throw her onto the bed and there was no going back anymore. But he needed to know that she was sure about this, that she really was with him on this one.

"Do you understand now, Veronica?" he rasped, his voice too rough with the myriad of emotions he was feeling. "God, I thought you were hot already back when we first met. Nothing has ever changed that. But we were friends and we did have other love interests, so I never felt the need to act on it. But it's different now. We're different. And like it or not, but my attraction to you has grown. I can't _pretend_ to be your boyfriend, Ronnie. I could never kiss you and not let it get out of hand like just now. Not wanting to have more. Nor do I want to pretend. If you're going to be my girlfriend then it has to be the real deal. And I do want that, Veronica, so badly." He took a deep breath and lifted his head to look into her eyes. They were dazed as he noted with primal satisfaction. He hoped that was a good sign. "Are you ready for that though? Do you want the real deal too? Because if not, then you've got to say it now. I'll let you go, help myself to a real cold shower and we'll forget about this idea. It's your decision."

She was quiet, still gazing at him with her dazed eyes.

Reluctantly, he pulled his hand from under her t-shirt to caress her cheek, lightly. "But I do hope that your answer is yes."

Her eyes cleared a bit and she blinked. She still just gazed into his eyes for a long while though.

"Ronnie?" he whispered, barely daring to breath, in fear to have this magic moment blow up into his face.

But then she smiled. "I don't know. This wasn't what I had planned or imagined - but then I don't think I can pass on such a nice offer - or on such kisses," she answered at last and before he could analyze her words too much she had already pulled down his head for another kiss.

That was answer enough for him.

Sweeping her up into his arms, he brought her up to his level and reveled in the better access this gave him to her mouth. She too seemed to like it, because she was making some quiet sounds from deep within her throat they were making Logan slowly but surely crazy with growing need. When she finally slang her legs around him he staggered, his knees suddenly too week to support the two of them.

Thank God there was the bed just behind him. Turning around with seemingly his last halfway clear thought he sank down onto it, gently lowering Veronica onto her back, never breaking their more and more frantic kiss.

He was still halfway in his diver suit but then again that also meant that there wasn't that much clothing to remove on his side. Surely a definitely good thing, the way this was going, he thought as he pulled Ronnie's t-shirt over her head.

Bless her for not wearing a bra.

Her hands moved to his back, pulling the zipper all the way down and almost blind with need, he kicked the suit off as fast as he could, leaving him only in his swimming trunks, so he could finally lower his head to start a thorough exploration of her wonderful breasts with his tongue.

He guessed he could have spent hours playing with them, but the growing need urged him to claim her lips once again while letting his hand slide down her stomach towards the rim of her jeans, slipping beneath them. This caused her to moan, the small sound driving him more and more over the edge.

Somewhere, in the deepest of his mind, a very small voice was warning him that this was going too fast, that he had to slow down. Not that he didn't want this - God, he wanted it so bad. But he was sure that Ronnie was still a virgin and the first time shouldn't be hard, animalistic and quick where this definitely was heading to. It should be slow and sensual and most of all, careful and patient.

Ronnie's hands glided over his back and she briefly broke their kiss so she could kiss down his neck, remaining over a very sensitive spot near his collarbone for a long moment before trailing up again to join once again in a searing kiss with him, her hands finding their way to his chest and stomach in the meanwhile, slowly heading downwards, much to the excitement of a certain very eager body part of him.

How the hell could he ever go slow with her driving him this crazy?

He had no idea but then, other things seemed more important to him right now. Like finally getting Veronica out of those damn jeans of her. At last he managed to unfasten the button and zip down the zipper and he proceeded to pull them away from her, with her help, apparently as eager to get rid of the annoying remaining clothing as him.

Forcing himself to break the kiss, it was his turn to leave a trail of small kisses down her body, taking a sweet break to remain a bit longer at her breasts again and then again to play a little with her navel. It aroused him as well, but it left him a little bit more cool headed than their fervent and zealous kisses. But no matter what he did, he knew that it wouldn't last much longer anymore, not this time. Too great was his need, too long was it since he had had sex that actually meant something to him and too fiery was their coming together.

Heaven, if he had known that it would be like that between them he would never have let himself get distracted by Lilly or let Duncan have the first shot. Then again, who knew if it would have ever been like that between them before they had to change so much and had also learned the hard and tough sides of each other?

Somehow, he just couldn't see the old Veronica Mars withering like that under his touch. Nor could he see himself get this turned on by the old, virginal Veronica Mars.

Virginal...

Shit.

He didn't want to hurt her, even though he knew that a certain amount of pain wasn't avoidable. But he could lesson it, prepare her better, but hell, if he really wanted to do that, he should see to it that he finally got a start on it.

Right.

Forcing himself to slow down, he made his way back up with his head, while his fingers slowly trailed down though, slipping beneath her panties, carefully. He had no idea what her ex's had done with her, how far they had actually gone. The last thing he wanted to do was to scare her. Not that he thought that his Ronnie scared easily nowadays. But no matter how tough she was, the first time could always be a bit awkward. Especially if the partner didn't know what to do.

Of course, he was quite experienced already for his rather young age. You couldn't be in a relationship with someone like Lilly and not get a wide and profound experience in sex.

And yet, he had the feeling that having sex with the tiny blond one was going to be something entirely else that would teach even him something new.

Gently, he brushed over her center, groaning when he found it already wet and hot for him. Perhaps he wouldn't have to do that much preparation after all. Slowly, he started to rub a bit, increasing his pressure slightly. Whimpering a little bit, Veronica moved her hip, pressing herself tighter against his hand. He was just about to let a finger of his slid inside of her when suddenly, everything changed.

One second, Veronica was moving with him, the next she froze, every muscle in her tensing. And already, he could feel her bring up her hands to push at his chest.

"Logan, stop. Please stop. God, I'm sorry, but please, please stop."

His frenzied mind needed a moment for her words and actions to register, but he too froze, not moving exactly away from her but not continuing either.

Stop. Stop. _Now _she wanted to stop? Jesus, couldn't she have pulled the brake earlier than that?

But stop was stop and he slowly lifted his head to gaze at her inquiringly.

To his absolute confusion, he saw panic and... was that fear in her eyes?

Breathing deeply, he slowly slid his hand back out from under her panties and lifted himself off from her, never letting her out of his eyes.

Was she really that afraid of him?

As soon as she was free, she scrambled up, snatching the blanket to cover herself while she huddled against the wall.

He had a flashback to the day all those weeks ago when he had found her crying in the girl's bathroom and she had shied away from his touch as well and all traces of lust vanished as he got a really, really bad feeling.

"Ronnie?"

She shook her head, avoiding his eyes. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Just - I just need a minute, okay?"

Somehow, her words made him cringe. Did she really think he could ignore such a reaction to their intimacy?

_And the last shreds of that girl died that morning when she woke up and had to realize that she really could trust no one and nothing again, not even her own instinct, her own judgment._

Her words from their last visit in Long Beach came back to his mind and the bad feeling turned to a sick feeling that laid heavy in his stomach and on his heart.

Oh God, no...

"Veronica? What happened?" he whispered, not really wanting to hear it, not when it was what he thought it was, but knowing that he needed to know, for both their sakes.

Her eyes flew to him, so full of pain and also desolation, while her arms tightened even more around herself that it cut straight into his heart.

For a moment he thought she'd refuse to answer, but then she spoke, her voice lost and toneless. "I don't know."

He frowned, tensing.

"I can't remember. Someone slipped me a drink, a rum and coke and I guess some liquid X or GHB in it. All I can remember is passing out by the pool and the next thing I know is I'm waking up in a strange room, my head pounding, I find my panties on the floor and I _hurt_."

He closed his eyes. No. Oh God no.

"I don't know who it was. Hell, I don't even know if it was just one guy or if I was the party hit for a whole bunch of assholes."

His heart ached for her, wanting nothing more than to turn back time and save her from this ultimate violation of her and spare her this pain. And a rage consumed him he had never known in life before, not even after Lilly's murder. He was going to find that bastard and he was going to rip him apart, starting with his dick. "When? When did this happen?" he finally asked, barely recognizing his own voice.

"Shelley Pomroy's party, a year ago."

He started, his eyes flowing open to stare at her. He remembered that party, out of several reasons. It had been the first party he had gone too after Lilly's death and seeing Ronnie there, reminding him of what had been and what was lost so starkly, after having made it so obvious that she wasn't welcomed in his presence anymore, had enraged him to no end. And she had been trashed that night, gone beyond anything he had ever seen her.

Not trashed. _Drugged_. So she could be _raped_.

He should have known, damn it. She just wasn't the type to get trashed like that, no matter what, and it had happened too fast, he remembered, her stumbling through the crowd and throwing herself at other guys not all that long after her arrival before passing out by the pool.

Then he remembered himself standing over her and shoving a lemon slice between her lips, laughing when one of the guys did a body shot on her. On her _unconscious_ body.

He was off the bed in a flash, pacing, his hands flexing into fists. Fuck. He wanted to kill the bastard that had done this to her? He should start with himself. Okay, he had been angry, but that was no excuse. Not for making fun of her like that while she couldn't defend herself and not for not caring enough to not have let this happen to her. For God's sake, he had protected that girl for four years and then he just allowed someone to rape her?

Had it been one of the guys doing the body-shots?

But wait... "I thought you've left with Duncan?" he murmured, trying to make sense of this.

"What?"

He turned around, saw her narrowed eyes on him. He didn't even think twice of not giving her all the answers she'd ask for. It was the least he owed her - even if it would make her hate him. "You were trashed. Or so we all thought. You've flirted around a bit. Hell, you actually made out with Dick. Madison was spitting mad, I'll tell you." He paused for a moment, seeing her expression of horror. "After a while, we found you passed out by the pool. Well, you weren't all gone, you did still react a bit, but - I should have known better. Some of the guys," he swallowed. "Me and some of the guys made a fun out of it by doing body shots with you. Well, I didn't, but I sure stood by and cheered the other guys on." He dug his nails into his palms and shook his head. "God, Ronnie, I'm so sorry. I know I've acted like an ass. And I know I shouldn't have done that. But I swear on Lilly's grave that that was all we did: body shots. There was no additional groping and none of the other guys tried anything even remotely resembling rape. I know I've been angry back then but you've got to believe me that not even then I would have allowed this."

She held his eyes for a long, long time, before she slowly nodded. "I know. But now back to me leaving with Duncan?"

Relieved that she believed him, he nodded. "At one point, Duncan showed up and got an angry fit because of what we were doing. He lifted you up and left with you, saying he wanted to bring you home."

Ronnie took this in and frowned. "But I was still at Shelley's place when I woke up the next morning."

"That's what I don't get either," Logan agreed, frowning, trying to remember. "Okay, I've slipped him some Liquid X, so he'd loosen up a bit..."

"You had Liquid X?"

At her sharp question, he nodded, glancing back at her guiltily. "I've got it in Tijuana. This was the first party after Lilly's death. I brought it with me because I wanted to have some means to escape if it got too tough. But then I gave it Duncan because I just wanted to see him smile again, even if it meant he was going to get back together with you."

"Who else had drugs with them?" she wanted to know.

Again, he answered on the spot. "As far as I know, Sean and Luke. And Dick, but he had been already out at the party."

"How do you know that?"

"Because he kept begging us to give him our share," Logan said with a shrug.

She looked away. "Do you remember anything else about the party?"

"No," he sighed, his hands balling to fists once again. "I... it had been too soon. I wasn't ready yet for parties like this one as I had to admit to myself, so I left soon afterwards. I went home and got drunk shitless." And left her to her rapist. Or rapists. Jesus God, if he ever found out who'd had done it... But he left that unsaid, pretty sure she wouldn't be too impressed by his oaths and swearing.

They were silent for a while, him sporting dark thoughts about revenge and her... whatever she was thinking about.

"Logan? Did you hear... I mean, I've heard the rumors starting after the party as well that say I pretty much slept with every guy there - but has one of your buddies actually admitted to have had sex with me? Not necessarily at that time, but did one of them say they've actually been in my pants?"

Her timid question tore at his heart and more than anything he whished he could give her a positive answer - or even better that none of this had ever happened. But just like he couldn't bring Lilly back to life he couldn't make what had been done to his Ronnie vanish. All he could do was be there for her, albeit a year too late. And help her get justice and revenge. And do everything in his power to not let something like that happen to her again. "No, no one. Then again, I'm not sure they'd have boasted about it in front of me. Everyone knew what I thought of you and so could tell that I wouldn't exactly have congratulated the guy on his score."

She drew her arms closer around her, but she simply nodded. He wondered how it must have been for her, going back to school and facing everyone day after day, knowing that someone of them had violated her in the worst way someone could hurt another person. But she always had had her head held high. With a sick feeling he realized that this had been when she had cut her hair, when she had stopped taking his and anyone else's comments and had given them back equally. This was when this new Veronica had been born, the Veronica who drove him crazy, who had planted a bong in his locker and the same Veronica who had forced him to rethink their relationship and bring him to the point that he had fallen hopelessly in love with her.

And deep admire filled him, because he doubted that anyone else could have survived all she had to go through, all alone, and come out so well as she had. And he hated himself even more, because only now could he really grasp how much he really had let her down. If he hadn't pushed her away as he had nothing of this would ever have happened, he was sure of it. And afterwards, instead of doing something when he had noticed that something must have happened to her, what had he done? He had launched an even more hateful attack against her, helping spread the rumors about her fallen status of a virgin, turning her, at least by reputation, into the biggest slut at school.

Yet here she was, having declared and proved her friendship to him several times and until she had pulled the brake, she had even let him make out with him pretty heavily. Suddenly, standing became too much to him and he sank onto the only chair in the small cabin. How could she have forgiven him all of this? How could she have even let herself trust anyone, let alone him ever again? He didn't know, he was just grateful for it. And his resolve to never betray that incredible trust in him again strengthened even more. No matter what happened, he wasn't going to forget this ever again and never again would he let her down.

Suddenly, an incredible thought occurred to him and he blurted it out before he could stop himself. "Wait - wait... you... you didn't ever think that... that I could have done this to you, did you?" he asked, his heart beating fast.

She still had had her eyes averted from him, but at his desperate question she slowly looked back at him, meeting his eyes. "I know it had to be someone at the party - a 09er. After it happened, I made myself a list of all the boys at the party. I didn't exclude you or Duncan. And I tried to figure out who of those guys could have done it. I came up with nothing. Some I just can't believe to be capable of such a thing, but then, what do I know after all? And some I simply don't know enough," she answered after a moment in a neutral tone that made his heart plummet down. "You... I know how angry you've been with me at that time. I remember the hate with which you've looked at me when I dared to come to the party. I saw the resolve to make me regret that decision. And you've already hurt me so much..." Her eyes bored into his. "But no, Logan. No. Each time I tried to think if you could have done it, everything in me rebelled. I've told you before: I don't really trust my own judgment that much anymore. But I just know you haven't been the one. Just like I know you never had an idea of what really had happened at that party. Because I know you and you're capable of much, but not of anything like this. Or I would never have let you back in again. And I sure as hell wouldn't be here now - or would have let happen what we were about to do."

He breathed out and with it, a huge rock lifted from his heart. Thank God... He wasn't sure he deserved her faith in him, but thank Heaven that she hadn't believed him capable of such a thing.

"What just happened...When I told you to stop..."

He looked back up to her.

"It's not... it wasn't because I didn't trust you. Please don't think I stopped because of you. But... I don't know. I guess I got scared. Not by you of course but by what was going to happen." Her eyes flew to him, briefly, then looked down, her fingers playing nervously. "You need to know that I never... I mean, I never had sex before that night and never since then and like said - I don't really remember anything. I just know that it happened. And then, when you... well, I felt it wasn't going to take long anymore until we really... well, you know. I just panicked, afraid of what would happen."

He took a deep breath - and let it out again. She was wrong if she thought he blamed her for stopping them. "I went too fast, I know. Everything happened too fast. And I'm sorry for that. I tried to slow down but..." He shrugged, offering her a lopsided smile. "Frankly said, you pretty much shot all control I may have had to hell."

There was a ghost of a smile on her face too and he was pleased to see that she blushed deeply. "But you stopped," she said softly. "The moment I told you to stop, you stopped, no matter how hard that was."

Instantly turning serious, Logan waited until she lifted her eyes to meet his. "Stop means stop," he told her simply. "Veronica, I promise you, I will never go on when you tell me to stop. Depending how far we've come I may need a moment, but I will always stop."

She held his eyes for a long moment, then nodded, accepting this without anymore questions.

So far so good. He leaned forward a bit. "And I don't mind you stopping us, Ronnie. Even if the circumstances were different, it wasn't - right. Wrong time, too spur of the moment, too fast."

When she looked down at that, resuming her nervous finger playing, he raised an eyebrow. "So... I guess you don't want..." her voice trailed off.

Logan couldn't help it, but the disappointment in her voice amused him to no end - and touched him. "Ronnie." Once again he waited until he held her eyes. "For starters, I could ask you the same thing. After everything that happened I could understand why you wouldn't want to have sex with me."

Her blush deepened - but this time she didn't look away. "Why? I don't blame you. I trust you." She bit her lip. "And I care for you. Not to mention that what went on between us, I mean before I panicked... I never imagined it could be like that. It sure felt good. I'd like to try it again. With you. And let you show me through all the way down 'til the end." She grimaced. "But I can't promise what will happen. I'm scared I'll have a flashback after all. Or that - I suddenly freeze like just now and can't continue after all. I could understand if you don't want to have to deal with such shit," she finished quietly.

"It's hardly your fault that you've been raped!" he protested with heat and her eyes widened a bit. Getting up, he went back over to the bed and sat across from her, gently taking her hands. "I never want to hear you degrading yourself like that again. And for the record: it felt good to me as well. Very good. And I sure am still as attracted to you as I've been, if not even more. So yeah, I definitely want to try it again. But in the right way this time." He lifted a hand to caress her cheek and was relieved and pleased that she didn't shy away or held any fear or panic in her eyes. "It's been going too fast anyway. We're barely back to friends, you just found out about my dad, I'm admitting that I want more than just friendship and already we're about to have sex. It was just too much all at once. And now with you telling me about the rape..." He swallowed, still having difficulties to speak it out, making it so much more real. The thought of Ronnie, innocent, trusting and virginal as she had been being violated like that... it just about killed him. But she didn't need his vengeance and guilt right now. She needed his reassurance and hell, that was the least he could give her. "We need to take this slow, Veronica. There's no hurry. Tonight, we'll have a nice dinner, watch the fireworks and if you want to, I think it would do us good to just sleep then. Together, just holding each other, not doing anything much."

"Give us time and the opportunity to heal," Ronnie said softly.

He nodded. "And to get to know us better. Yeah, we've been friends and enemies and friends again, and I think we really know each other's darkest secret now - but becoming a couple is a whole other story again. I've seen it with Lilly. Let's give us time to get used to all of it, to these new sides of our relationship - to get comfortable with it and one another. And when we're ready, we'll try it again, go our own pace, step for step." He smiled. "You with me on this?"

She scooted closer, touched his face, before she nodded with a hesitate smile. "Yeah. I like that."

Pulling her closer, he gave her a light kiss before hugging her, just holding her close. With a sigh, she laid her head onto his shoulder and held him back.

And that was just fine with him.

* * *

"I'm sorry."

Not catching up right on, Logan opened an eye to blink at Ronnie, lying beside him on the deck of the boat, propped up on an elbow and looking solemn. After spending a calm though very beautiful and perfect Sylvester night they've decided to leave Long Beach behind and return back to Neptune - without any haste. More or less half way back, they've stopped in a small bay to enjoy the splendid weather and bath in the sun for a few hours.

Slowly, Ronnie stroked tenderly over his back, remorse filling her eyes. "When I planted the bong in your locker - he punished you for that, didn't he? I noticed you moved awkwardly for a couple of days but I just thought it was because of Weevil's beatings. I never..."

Sighing, Logan closed his eyes again and turned his head. "Don't worry about it, Ronnie. That was ages ago."

"Well, I'm sorry if I just can't forget that I was directly responsible for you being - whipped," she retorted though, anger, bitterness and disgusted outrage in her voice. Her hand though resumed stroking with a feather-light touch over his back. "See, that's why you should have told me a long time ago. I'd have never risked putting you in your dad's wrath like that if I'd known."

Groaning, Logan flipped over and, shading his eyes with a hand, glared at her. "The last thing I would have wanted was for you to go easy on me because you were pitying me. Second, trust me, in the end it hurt a lot more for him to take away the X-terra than the few whips I got for it. And last but not least, Dad was on edge at that time anyway, it having been too long since he last could get rid of some steam by taking it out on me so if it hadn't been the bong and the mayhem it caused temporarily it would have been something else - perhaps me bringing home a bad grade or being late or whatever. That's how it works, Ronnie. So please, just forget about it, okay? Not to mention that I think with me taking out your headlights we're more than even." He smirked. "Besides, it was kind of funny. Gotta admit, Mars, I wouldn't have given it to you."

She sighed but smiled back. "Yeah well, it was funny. I don't regret having played you that prank per se. You deserved it for dragging Mom into it." She turned serious. "But I never intended to get you really hurt. If I'd known, I'd have found another way to pay you back."

Feeling a pang of guilt, he looked away for a moment. "I know I shouldn't have brought up your mother. That was too low, I admit that - did already shortly afterwards actually."

"Why did you do it?" she asked, curiously.

Glancing back at her, he shrugged. "Honestly? I'm not sure. I was just so angry at you back then - but not the usual way, you know? Over the summer I thought that maybe, I finally managed to cut you out completely, forgetting about you once and for all. Then school year was back on and there you were again. You weren't invisible to me, I couldn't ignore you and your presence annoyed and irked me." He shook his head. "Today I think it was because I simply couldn't forget you and our friendship after all and part of me was starting to realize that you'd never be indifferent to me."

"Naturally, that pissed you off." Ronnie nodded, understanding.

"So I took it out on you, striking out in the meanest way I could think of," he concluded. He studied her for a while. "Veronica? For what it's worth now: I _am_ very sorry about your mom. And be angry with me if you want but I think she's scum for leaving you like that."

She got a distant look in her eyes. "Lately, I tried to find her, you know. There are so many questions I have - about her and Jake and her and Dad, why she left, why she never called me or even sent a postcard - why she doesn't let me find her." Lying down again, she surprised Logan by scooting closer and laying her head onto his shoulder. "When she left - I was so angry for her to leave us, only leaving a stupid note behind. But part of me was also relieved because - after Dad lost his job and we had to move out of the house..." She swallowed.

"It was bad," Logan said it for her, quietly.

He felt her nod. "Yeah." She was silent for a while. "But I had Dad and I had Back-Up and that was enough. It was fine. And the more time that passed without hearing from her, not even on my birthday, the more - indifferent she became to me."

"So what changed? You said you're looking for her?"

"Yeah... A while back I found a key to a deposit box at a local bank. That was when you and Luke got dragged into that scheme of Troy down in Mexico. I managed to get access to it and I found..." She broke off and with a sigh, sat up, glancing at him hesitantly. "Okay, don't get angry, yeah?"

Not liking the sound of that, he sat up too, frowning slightly. "Why should I get angry?"

"Because I haven't told you this so far. But seriously, I didn't think it mattered. At least not for what we try to find out."

He narrowed his eyes. "Haven't told me _what_?"

"In the box were surveillance pictures. Of me." Her eyes bored into his. "With a target drawn over my face."

He digested that. And as the meaning of it dawned on him, he felt his blood begin to boil - quite a feast as he could swear he could also feel it turning cold with fear. "And you thought that's not important?!" he managed to hiss through a clenched jaw.

She had the nerve to smile sheepishly. "Well, no, not really. This was Mom-business and sorry, but at first I didn't trust you enough yet to open myself up to more humiliation and when I did trust you again - it's my Mom, Logan. She's a sore topic for me, one I avoid if I can and with all the shit we had to clear between us already I just didn't want to go into that as well. But I'm telling you now and seriously, Logan - would you have spoken about it if it had been one of your parents? I mean, you haven't told me about your dad having that many affaires. Nor did you mention how your Mom and her liking to pills is nowadays."

His jaw flexed painfully under the pressure he was applying on it, but he said nothing. She had a point there - but dammit! That was hardly the same! They weren't talking about targets drawn over his face on surveillance pictures!

"Besides, I did a little sleuthing and found out who had taken the pictures," she continued, as if reading his mind. "And I took measures to let him know that I know - and that I don't appreciate it."

"Care to enlighten me?" He glared at her. The thought of her confronting such a possible threatening man, all alone...

She made a grimace. "You won't like it."

"I don't care! Just tell me, okay?" he flared up, well aware that he was taking his fear out on her - but she deserved it, to do so stupid things like go take on a blackmailer or hell, perhaps even a killer.

"It was Clarence Wiedman."

Logan needed a moment to place the name, but when he did, he stared at her, incredulous. "Wait - the head of security at Kane Industries? That Clarence Wiedman?"

Veronica nodded.

His eyes widened further. "You... you mean - those pictures - they came from the _Kanes_?"

He didn't know why he was so shocked by this - he suspected the family of the possible murder of their own daughter. So why was learning them being responsible for a few threatening pictures such a shock for him?

Again, Ronnie nodded. "Yeah. I thought Jake, but when I confronted him at your mom's Christmas party it turned out he knew no more about the pictures than me. From his outburst with Celeste I'm guessing that she was responsible for the pictures though. When I found that out I thought that that would explain it after all, you know? Mom and Jake had an affair and Celeste finally decided to drive her out of Neptune by threatening me." She frowned. "But I'm not so sure anymore. Why wait so long? Why only a few months after Lilly's death? Why such a harsh threat? I mean, threatening one's daughter's life is pretty overboard to just get rid of the annoying affair of your husband, don't you think so too?"

Her words raced through his head and he tried to make them make sense. "You think it might be linked with Lilly's death?"

She shrugged. "Perhaps. Or perhaps I'm just paranoid after all. I just don't know what to think anymore. That's why I want to talk with Mom. I'm hoping she can bring some light to it."

"Your dad knows nothing of this?" he guessed and sure enough, she gave him a look that told him just how dumb a question that really was. "What? Do you se a flock of bodyguards following me around perhaps?"

He had to smile at that. "Had you any luck in finding your mother?"

"I tracked her down to an old friend she's been staying with for a while but I missed her by just a few days. Next I sent disposable and non traceable phones to all friends and relatives I could think of and she did call at last, on Dad's birthday. Told me to not look for her and that I'll understand one day," she answered, making a face. "That's the last I heard of her. She's better at staying low than I'd have credited her for. Dad may be able to find her, but so far he seems to have no interest in doing so. So I guess until something comes up I have to find the answers myself."

"_We_ do," he corrected her, daring her with his eyes to protest.

He didn't care if this was personnel for her or not, she had to understand that they were partners now and she had to stop this solo tours of hers. Hadn't she understood by now how important she was to him? That putting herself at such risks nearly killed him?

She held his eyes for a long time, but finally, she nodded, smiling. "Yeah. _We_ do."

"And don't forget it again," he grumbled, content though.

Her smile just widened and she slid down to lay on her back again and closed her eyes, enjoying the warmth of the sun.

For a while, he just looked at her, hesitating There was a question that troubled him ever since last night but even though they had just discussed a few delicate topics, he wasn't sure if he really should ruin the peace by bringing up her rape.

"What is it?"

He blinked. "Huh?"

"You're burning to ask something. Go on ahead: ask."

"Are you sure? It's about..."

She opened an eye. "Logan, just ask."

"I just wondered - why did the police never question me about that night?" he asked hesitantly.

Her other eye opened as well. "Pardon me?"

"Well..." He spread his fingers. "It's just - you're a sheriff's daughter, always were and I can't imagine that even with having to go to Lamb and have to admit to your ordeal and face the consequences you wouldn't report this. You'd have wanted them to be processed and punished properly. So... As I've been one of the guys at the parties and I guess, to an official eye would appear to be a prime suspect with everything that had happened between us, why had I never the pleasure to be interrogated?" At last he searched for her eyes. "You did report it, didn't you?"

But she closed her eyes and looked away, leaving him feeling quite disturbed by that. "Ronnie?"

"Why don't you go see the wizard? Ask for a little back bone."

Frowning deeply, Logan stared at her. Had she lost her mind?

"That was all Sheriff Lamb had to say to me after I reported the rape to him, right after he made fun of me for crying," she explained, tonelessly.

Logan needed a long moment to truly understand what she said. When he finally did, he found himself too baffled to even get angry. "Wait - are you telling me the sheriff just sent you _away_ after you reported a rape to him?"

That was impossible, wasn't it? Sure, he knew best of all that the law had blind spots - but to send away a rape victim and with such words on top of that? That just couldn't be true, could it?

"And all the time, he grinned that dirty grin at me, as if he didn't just not believe me - but that he actually was gleeful of what had been done to me." This time, her voice broke, if only a little.

It was enough to enflame Logan into hot anger at once. "I am getting him fired for this. And _then_ I'll beat the hell out of this asshole," he swore darkly, his fist balling already in anticipation.

"In a way I have to be grateful to him - I certainly grew a backbone after all, didn't I?" she asked softly, turning her head back to him.

He growled. "He had no right to ignore your report like that - let alone ridicule what had been done to you!"

"No, he had not. In a way though, he wasn't even that wrong in ridiculing it. Even if he had taken it seriously, chances that it would have come to a conviction were more or less like zero. Even if a rape kit had been made, it would have proved the drugs in my blood and the sexual intercourse, yeah, but nothing else. No proof that I hadn't taken the drugs myself and no proof that it wasn't consented sex after all. I had no bruises, no defense wounds, no memories and so couldn't even name anyone. There was nothing but my word that this had been a rape and what worth is the word of Veronica Mars in the end, daughter of delusional and paranoid Keith Mars?" For a moment, bitterness flew over her face. "And let's face it, who on that party would have supported my accusation? No one. Fact is, every single one on that party hated my guts and as it is, by next Monday I've already turned to be the school's biggest slut."

He cringed, reminded once again at how wrong he had done her. "Neverless - your dad would never have allowed such a thing. He'd have done whatever he could for someone like you."

"Yeah well, it was been made sure that he's not the sheriff anymore though, no?" she only responded sarcastically and once again he cringed. True, he had little to do with Sheriff Mars' loss of his job but he had cheered the decision.

"I know - but at least this also showed just how fast such a thing can go," he pointed out forebodingly.

It couldn't be that hard to see to it that this asshole Lamb lost his position, could it? He'd have to think about it. If he somehow could get his father convinced what an idiot Lamb was and he in return could get some of the others 09ers to support him, Lamb would be out.

"Contrary to Dad Lamb's not just an imbecile but also a major suck up - and I think the dirty things he does find out he rather uses as blackmail than to actually press charges. People won't fire him in fear of what he knows. Not to mention that it's of course convenient to have a sheriff who won't bother you 09ers and turning a blind eye on their various crimes," she once again seemed to read his thoughts. "Catapulting him out of his office won't be so easy."

He smirked. "Are you trying to tell me that it's not doable?"

At that she smirked back. "Now that I wouldn't say."

He grinned. Oh yeah, that was his Ronnie.

* * *

"Uff, Back-Up, I swear you've gained a few pounds," Logan huffed as he lifted the large pit-bull out of the boat.

Back-Up fletched his way and chuckling, Ronnie ruffled his head. "It's probably more that he hadn't enough exercise with all the time we stayed on the boat in the end. We're going to have to get you to the beach for a good run, don't we, boy?"

The little monster gave a short bark, as if to say 'You bet on that, missy'.

Grabbing his duffel and the basket with the rest of their provisions, Logan too jumped up onto the footbridge. Worried, he looked up at the sky. "It will be dark soon. You shouldn't go alone to the beach."

Amused, she glanced up at him. "That's why I have this big, scary pit-bull with me, you know? And that wonderful invention called a tazer."

"Still..." Logan just voiced his doubts.

"Or is this your way of inviting yourself to the walk as well?" she asked, quite smugly.

That would be no doubtly true, but that didn't mean he couldn't have a little fun with that. So he stepped very close to her to cup her cheek and leaned down. Only a breath a way, he smiled. "And would that be so bad?"

Her cheeks flushed, but she stayed where she was, even reached up to cover his hand with hers. "No, I guess not," she answered as softly.

"Then it's a deal," he murmured and closed the distance to give her a slow, deep kiss.

Since last night they've kissed quite the bit and it was fast becoming second nature to him, to reach out, take her into his arms, touch her, hone in for a small kiss or get lost in one of their deeper kisses. The thought of not being able to do this unnerved him. Not that he was sure if this would be denied him in public - in all their talking they somehow had forgotten to clear the front on their position in this matter.

By the time they let each other go, she had laid both of her hands onto his wrist and looked up into his eyes now, her eyes warm. "Not to mention that we still have to talk about this, don't we?"

He nodded, his forehead still leaned against hers. "Definitely. Want to drop home first or go straight to the beach?"

"Let's go to the beach as long as there's still daylight," she decided and together, they started walking back the footbridge, his arm around her shoulders, their hands linked and Back-Up trailing joyously in front of them.

This for sure was something he could get used to.

* * *

"So... that was quite some trip, huh?" Ronnie eventually brought up their topic.

Stopping, he bend his head. "You could say that."

"Where's it leaving us?" she asked straight out, holding his eyes.

Caressing her cheek, he smiled earnestly. "How do you want to leave it?"

She grumbled a bit. "You first."

His smile widened. "Isn't that quite obvious?"

"Hmpf." She mustered up a half-hearted glare. "You're not going to say it first, aren't you?"

"Hey, I took the first step by kissing you, risking my balls and our friendship. I think it's only fair it's your turn now," he pointed out, and yeah, he was smirking.

"Fine," she conceded grudgingly. "Will you be my boyfriend, Logan Echolls?" she then asked straight out.

He laughed and lifted her up to smack a quick kiss onto her lips. "Way, I'd be delighted to have you as my girlfriend, Veronica Mars," he answered, putting her down onto her feet and immediately honing in for a way more appropriate kiss for such a moment. "Now, was that so hard?" He asked after a long moment, having her securely wrapped in his arms.

"I guess I can live with it," she admitted. "Now all we have to decide is how we plan to do this with the world out there," she continued with a grimace.

Logan sure could understand her feeling. It was true, while they've been on the trip, everything had been so clear, so simple. But now back in Neptune, he knew it wouldn't be that easy. There was still their history. And there were also their friends, who were bound to make it a lot more difficult for them by disapproving. Then they had to deal with their insecurities, especially what aftermath the rape had left his Ronnie in. Not to mention the biggest hurdle in his eyes: he had to face Keith Mars and his guns as the new suitor of his precious little girl. The thought alone made him not just a bit nervous and slightly sick. After everything Duncan had told him after his meeting with The dad... And it was bound to be worse for him, her father perfectly knowing the hell he had put Ronnie through after Lilly's death.

Oh yeah, he almost forgot: they also had to deal with the ghosts of Lilly and Duncan. And Duncan. He cringed at the thought of his best friend. Ronnie may or may not be the half-sister of Duncan but he knew without a single doubt that Duncan was not going to take it well that his best friend was now together with the girl he still loved. And he had every right to. Ex-girlfriends of your best friend were taboo, no matter the circumstances. Logan knew that and usually respected this unspoken rule: and if this with Ronnie were just an infatuation or a quick romp in the bed he would never have acted on his feelings. But it wasn't, it was so much more than that. He was pretty sure that he was already half in love with Veronica and he simply couldn't just be her friend. And these past few days showed just how good them together were. Over the last few weeks and especially during their trip Logan had felt so many wounds starting to heal and he was happier and calmer now than he had been in a long time, if ever. That was why he willingly risked the best and oldest friendship he had, because on the bottom line he was sure that if he had to lose one of them - then the loss of Ronnie would devastate him far more than Duncan's, even though he hoped with all his being that it wouldn't come to that. While expecting a big strain on their friendship he did hope that they would overcome it, especially if Duncan really was able to move on with Meg Manning.

Ronnie sighed deeply. "Do we have to tell anyone at all?" she whined.

Focusing back on her, he frowned. "Not that I don't understand the sentiment, but I'm no big fan of secrets, Veronica. Not with something like that."

Though, there was a certain appeal of having secret meetings and sneaking around for a while.

"I know, I know. I wasn't really serious." She squeezed his hand. "I don't want to deny our relationship. I just wish we could escape the ruckus the knowledge of our relationship will probably cause."

He squeezed back, his eyes looking out on the sea though, thinking. "Maybe your idea isn't so bad after all."

Her head snapped up. "What?"

Looking back at her, he held up a hand. "Just listen for a moment, okay? I'm not saying to really engage in a secret relationship. But perhaps it's good to keep it quiet for a few days, perhaps a week or two top. Just until we could tell the people who shouldn't hear it through the grapevine."

"Oh... like Duncan," she said knowingly.

He nodded. "The least I owe him is to tell him in person - and give him the chance to show whatever reaction he may have in private, just between him and me."

She studied him for a moment. "You want to tell him alone? Are you really that worried about his reaction?"

"I think he won't like it too much, Ronnie. And yeah, I don't think it's a good idea if you're with me when I tell him," he confirmed. "This is something we need to clear between us. You can always have a separate talk with him later, if you want to."

"No, that's okay. I see your point. Thinking of it, I owe it to Wallace too to tell him in person and ahead of the rest. And Mac and Meg perhaps as well," she said, thoughtfully. "And of course, there are also Dad and your parents."

Suppressing a shiver, he made a face. "I'm perfectly fine with waiting to tell your dad for a while. Before he brings out the chastity belt and the big gun."

"Aww, is it possible that the big, bold Logan is scared of my old man?" she asked, her eyes gleaming wickedly.

"This isn't funny. I heard what he did put Duncan through, remember. And he _is_ allowed to carry concealed," he added, this time not quite able to suppress the shudder.

"Relax. He's not that bad. He and Duncan understood each other perfectly," Ronnie though waved his worries away.

Knowing that she hadn't been there when her dad had had his one on one talk with Duncan, he held his tongue. But he knew he had every right to be worried about ex-Sheriff Mars.

"So we'll lay low until we've told everyone we want to tell in person?" Ronnie took up their conversation again. "Yeah, that's okay. Any idea how long we're going to play Romeo and Juliet?"

"At least until school's back on. Duncan is in Nappa now with his parents and won't be back until Sunday evening. I'm not going to do this over the phone," he answered.

"Okay," she agreed without hesitation.

Wanting to think of better things than the confrontation with his best friend, he gathered Ronnie back into his arms for a slow kiss. "You know, it may have its advantages, being a secret couple."

She smiled back. "Hmm... You mean like driving through the backstreets, secret looks and messages, mysterious phone calls?"

"More as in meeting in secret locations. Your favorite girl's bathroom, the locket room, have a quick nookie in one of the booths in the newspaper room," he listed, his hands slipping under her sweatshirt to caress the soft skin of her stomach.

"Oh boy," she murmured and drew his head down for another kiss, a much more heatedly one than their previous.

Not that he had any complaints about that.

* * *

TBC!

_(Author's Note: At last a new chapter. I'm really sorry this took so long. But apart of the fact that RL has seriously cut down my writing time in the last year I wasn't sure how to proceed as I had various scernarios in mind, each with its own appeal. I finally decided to go this way and I hope you liked this long, long trip in many way, with all that was packed in it. Thanks for the many reviews and I hope that I won't have to let you wait for the new chapter so long again. And as a note for those who are also following Twisted: Trust me, I'm working on the new chapter and hope that it won't be that long anymore to post it.)_


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